Peet's Coffee

The original Peet’s. Ethical rating: 3.5 Green Stars (better than SBUX).

Peet’s is now fully open, as far as indoor seating goes. Staff members still wear masks but they are optional for customers. I know that this is the original Peet’s but I’ve only been inside a couple of times, despite having lived in Berkeley for two decades. That may change now (“going forward,” as people say, unintentionally or not, to annoy me) mainly because of the following three things:

1. I found a secret room! Okay, it’s not secret – in fact anyone who visited the bathroom or has a reasonably high level of curiosity will have found this back room. But I actually didn’t know that it existed until my visit last Sunday! It’s a very peaceful area (in contrast to the front, which sounds like a fish market on a Sunday morning) with about five tables and many bookcases filled with precious Peet’s artifacts and photos. Sit and soak in the energy of 1960’s Berkeley and find something to rebel against.

2. Peet’s now sells a vegan sandwich - the “Everything Plant-Based Sandwich” – and it’s pretty good. It’s a sausage patty from Beyond Meat, combined with JUST vegan egg and vegan cheddar, all on a thin everything bagel.

3. We can now use our own mugs again at Peet’s, avoiding coffee cup waste and the 25 cent charge that Berkeley folk now pay for disposable cups.

The baristas make darn good drinks – a simple latte induced a double take (or double sip) from my friend. Their Yosemite coffee is good (if you don’t mind dark roasts) and sports a Smithsonian “songbird friendly” certification – actually one of the best certifications for coffee (more on the ethical side below). Overall, it’s a fun (and historical) place to sit outside in the sun, or in the surprisingly serene “secret” back room.

I’m also giving the Peet’s 3.5 out of 5 “Green Stars” for social and environmental impact, based on this:

• Reasonable selection of vegetarian items and now one good vegan sandwich and a vegan brownie.
• Beyond Meat (who makes the Everything Plant-Based sandwich patty) rates highly in my book (4.5 Green Stars)
• Peet’s now allows customers to bring their own coffee mugs again & gives a 25 cent discount for using one.
• Peet’s disposable cups and lids are now both compostable. This helps quite a bit in terms of waste sorting, because everything can go into the compost bin. Let’s face it, at many coffee places (hello, Starbucks!) customers’ trash pretty much ends up in random bins. But bring your own mug, for goodness sake!
• Peet’s main coffee roastery in Alameda is certified LEED Gold– the first in the US. (LEED = Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
• Peet’s have been a bit better than other US chains (Starbucks, Philz) at introducing coffee that’s organic, songbird friendly, or processed by the natural method, etc.
• Las Hermanas blend is “100% women-produced, Fair Trade certified.” Burundi Turashobora is also women-produced. In 2019, Peet’s helped establish the Women's Center for Entrepreneurship for women coffee famers in Columbia.
• Peet’s has now merged with Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) and the joint venture had its IPO in 2020 on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. JDE scores poorly for ethics, for example on Ethical Consumer.
• Peet’s sells coffee pods (and JDE sells two machines that use pods), encouraging plastic waste.
• Peet’s doesn’t reports enough on social and environmental impact (e.g., coffee pricing) for a company of this size.

So a mixed bag from Peet’s: Better than Starbucks or Philz but not as good as some other local spots.
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Great people serving good, hot coffee drinks and a nice variety of beans. The little museum by the bathrooms is fun to look at. Sit outside and enjoy people watching while sipping your drink.

Original location of the first Peet’s coffee branch. Prices, selection, and ambience seem to reflect my experience at other Peets’. The location has a kind of awkward interior design, which leads to relatively limited seating. Prices seem to be average, but the quality of the beverages pictured (iced red eye and Havana Cappucino) was very good. I will be back if I’m in the East Bay

Dirty tables piles of trash. Slow lines. But most of all dirty. Also power wash gunky sidewalks.

Home of the best coffee! ❤️

The first Peet's.
Filled with coffee and tea memorabilia.

The first Peet’s. I get coffee here quite often and they’re always fairly fast.

Peets makes great coffee; beans to take home take or having a cuppa made onsight!. Nice building too. Vine St building is home of the first Peets coffee shop.

The coffee is always excellent, the staff are friendly but when it is cold out be prepared for long lines.

It did not take me long before I started feeling uncomfortable sitting at a crowded coffee shop with homeless people.