Peet's
Coffee & Tea
1441
NE Broadway
493-0192
508 SW
Broadway
973-5540
Rumors have been
brewing about a Peet's expansion in the Portland area, but
Baldwin denies that there are any discussions going on about
opening any new stores.
Baldwin lives
in San Francisco.
GENTLE READERS:
Miss Dish last left you front and center during a tête-à-tête
with Jamba Juice head honcho Kirk Perron,
who dismissed coffee retailers as drug dealers. Following
a theme of liquid feelgood, this week Miss Dish brings you
Jerry Baldwin, chairman of Peet's Coffee &
Tea, who is known to some in the industry as a "coffee
curmudgeon." And how does he take to Jamba junkies bitch-slapping
his brew? "They offer drinks filled with sugar--that's not
a drug?" Baldwin left-hooks back. Kapow, sports fans!
Baldwin is a natty fellow who helped start Starbucks in
the 1970s and sold it in 1987 (the company only had eight
shops when he left). He bought Peet's in 1984 and kept hold
of it after he dropped Starbucks. Baldwin, who resembles
a thinner, Saks-a-holic Phil Donahue, is feisty about his
coffee. He scoffs at people who won't pay more for freshness.
"People will drop a lot of money at a restaurant, but they
won't grind their own coffee," he says, as if describing
the atrocities in a Third World country. "I like to treat
coffee like bread," he says, and he's not pushing Wonder.
Peet's, which caffeinates Portlanders at two locations,
east and west, promises fresh roasted beans and no vacuum
packs. In fact, Baldwin, while showing Miss Dish how to
make the best possible cup of coffee, tsk-tsked her for
dumping cream and sugar in her cup, saying it's a habit
people got into when the only thing available was yucky
coffee and folks wanted to submerge the bad taste with additives.
Baldwin says all milk and sugar do is gunk up the good taste.
Baldwin is big on the French press. He sets one on our
table, pours a little water in and waits. A foam rises,
which he says is carbon dioxide. Baldwin is one of those
foodies who talks about science a lot. Lipids, carbons,
oxygens pepper the conversation. We taste the dark brew
in tiny cups. It's rich, with tiny granules that stick to
your tongue and give you a shiveringly nice aftertaste.
Miss Dish didn't miss her cream--well, not a lot, anyway.
So, is Jerry Baldwin, he of the very firm handshake and
whip-smart blazer, really a coffee curmudgeon? Well, he
is a pretty serious dude. "I like to think I have a great
sense of humor," he says. "Just not about coffee."
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