.png)
.webp)
Coffee founder and entrepreneurs in recent history have played a pivotal role in shaping global coffee culture and commerce.
From small roasters who introduced specialty beans to visionaries who built international coffee chains, these innovators have transformed coffee from a simple beverage into a worldwide phenomenon.
Alfred Peet, a Dutch-American entrepreneur, revolutionized coffee culture in the United States by introducing high-quality, custom-roasted beans in 1966, earning him the title "the Dutchman who taught America how to drink coffee."
Peet mentored the founders of Starbucks, but later distanced himself from them, famously declaring that one of them "never learned anything from me" as they experimented with ultra-dark roasts that diverged from his vision.
W. James Freeman founded Blue Bottle Coffee in the early 2000s in Oakland's Temescal District, naming it after one of Europe's first cafés.
Freeman initially started the company by going into $15,000 of credit card debt to launch what would eventually become a $700 million brand.
His company began as a home-delivery service that aimed to roast and sell coffee within 24 hours.
Jerry Baldwin, one of the co-founders of Starbucks in 1971, learned the coffee trade from Alfred Peet and later led a group of investors to purchase Peet's Coffee and Tea in 1984.
Baldwin sold his interests in Starbucks in 1987 to focus on Peet's.
He later became a Sonoma Valley vintner, co-founding J. Baldwin Wines in 2000.
He amassed an estimated net worth of $2.4 billion by 2018.
Todd Carmichael, the co-founder and CEO of La Colombe coffee company, is also known for being the first American to complete a solo trek across Antarctica to the South Pole on foot without assistance. He set a world speed record of 39 days, 7 hours and 49 minutes.
Carmichael later collaborated with actor Leonardo DiCaprio to create a coffee blend, with proceeds going to DiCaprio's foundation.
Erna Knutsen, born above the Arctic Circle in Norway in 1921. She became known as the "Godmother of Specialty Coffee" after emigrating to the United States and breaking gender barriers to become the first female green coffee broker in the country.
Despite facing initial challenges, Knutsen coined the term "specialty coffee," founded her own company at age 64, and received multiple lifetime achievement awards for her transformative impact on the coffee industry.
She continued to work till the remarkable age of 96.
Phil Jaber, born in Palestine, founded Philz Coffee in 2003 after operating a corner grocery in San Francisco's Mission District for over 25 years.
Phil spent those 25 years secretly experimenting with coffee blends, ultimately creating over 30 unique combinations before launching his coffeehouse chain.
The chain would go on to secure millions in funding and expand across multiple states.
Howard Schultz, born in 1953 to a working-class family in Brooklyn, transformed Starbucks from a small Seattle coffee shop into a global empire with over 28,000 stores in 77 countries.
Schultz briefly owned the Seattle SuperSonics basketball team but controversially sold them to out-of-state owners who moved the team to Oklahoma City, damaging his popularity in Seattle.
It led him to later call it one of his biggest regrets in life.
.png){kind=logo}
.webp)
.webp)