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Founder of Peet's Coffee dies at 87
(08-31) 10:57 PDT BERKELEY - Alfred Peet, who founded Peet's Coffee & Tea and opened its first store 41 years ago in Berkeley, died Wednesday at his home in Ashland, Ore., the company said today. He was 87. Mr. Peet opened the coffee roaster's first store in 1966, followed by outlets in Menlo Park (1971), Piedmont Avenue in Oakland (1978) and another Berkeley store across from the Claremont Hotel in 1980. He retired in 1983. Mr. Peet was born in Alkmaar, Holland. He cleaned machinery and did other odd jobs at his father's coffee roastery in Alkmaar before World War II. After the war, Mr. Peet became an apprentice at Lipton's Tea in London, then moved to Indonesia to work in the tea business there. He immigrated to San Francisco in 1955 and went to work at a coffee importer, E.A.
• FDA Warns About Unsafe Sweetener in Herbal Tea
The U.S. Food And Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning to Hain Celestial Group Inc about a potentially unsafe herb used in some of its herbal teas, saying it might be dangerous to blood sugar, reproductive, cardiovascular and renal systems.
The FDA sent a letter to Hain dated August 17, and named the herb, a natural sweetener made from a South American herb called stevia, as an unsafe food additive. The agency released the letter on its Web site on Tuesday. Stevia is being eyed by big beverage makers looking for new low-calorie sweeteners. In May, Coca-Cola Co and Cargill Inc said they would work together to market the new sweetener, despite the lack of FDA approval. Stevia has been approved in a dozen other countries including Japan, China and Brazil. The FDA letter said that although it has received requests to use stevia in food, data and information necessary to support the safe use have been lacking.
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