VIPeet

The LAT has an op/ed today about the influence of Alfred Peet. Please read it. I was a coffee retard until I came to Berkeley. Thanks to my classmates and an insatiable habit, I developed a taste for good coffee. As it turns out, Peet had a lot to do with that. In general, the Bay Area has far superior coffee than any other part of the country with the single exception of maybe Seattle. In the 50s, espresso machines came to SF's North Beach cafes from Italy. Combined with the beat generation, this created a sensation. My $3.50 iced grande latte this morning is the legacy of that movement. Of course, if it weren't for the original Peet's (on Walnut and Vine), who knows what today's coffee culture would have embraced. ("I'd like an iced grande crack cocaine please. No whip cream.")

Also it looks like UCI is rehiring Erwin.