Foodies among us will note with sadness the passing of two great men of good eating: Alfred Peet and Michael Jackson.
Peet was the Dutch emigre who saved America from Maxwell House. From the NYT obit:
“He was the guru of everyone in the gourmet coffee revolution,” said Corby Kummer, author of “The Joy of Coffee” and a senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly. “He was the big bang. It all started with him.”
Peet settled in the US in 1955, and began his missionary work among us heathens.
“At the time, America had a reputation, internationally, as having coffee that tasted like dishwater,” said Jim Reynolds, a buyer and roaster at Peet’s since 1984 who holds the title roastmaster emeritus. “He was very frustrated. He knew good-quality coffee existed, but no one in the states was buying it. He looked at it as something of a crime.” ...“His influence cannot be underestimated,” Mr. Kummer said. “The way Americans think about coffee and drink coffee are a direct result of his teachings.”
Michael Jackson -- no, not that Michael Jackson -- was a British beer guru who, among other good deeds in service to humanity, inspired the microbrewery revolution in the United States. He was known as The Beer Hunter. Go to his website to learn more about what a treasure he was. I found there this quote from him:
How was it for you? Valentine's Day, I mean. For me, the most romantic moment was when my love uttered those words of togetherness: "Let's walk down the road for a pint."
Sublime. Thank you, gentlemen, for making it possible for us to enjoy life's richness just a little bit more than we otherwise might have.
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It could be worse Rod. What if you also had a gastro-intestinal disorder that resulted in wafters that could knock a buzzard off a shit-wagon at 100 paces. Be thankful, be very thankful.
When I was a kid and first encountered the term "microbrewery" in the newspaper, I thought it meant they made the beer in extra-small cans.:)
I drank my first good coffee at Peets in North Berkeley. It began a life-long addiction and love affair. Peets is now a public company but mostly follows in the tradition of Alfred Peet. I now buy my beans from a gal who roasts them in her shop in my neighborhood. I like the shop but the beans are are good but not great. Every so often one of my wife's students gift her with a Peets card and we indulge. Major Dick's blend is one of life's small pleasures.
I hail from Minnesota, where a local commedienne once used this joke in her routine: "I've been married so long I'm on my second bottle of Tabasco Sauce." Needless to say, when she performed in Louisiana that fell flat. My mom had the same spice jars, with the same spices, in our kitchen for my entire life.
On coffee, many boomers got sent to Europe for a year during college, where we were exposed to wonderful coffee. For me, the search for coffee beans began after returning to Folger's land here in the Midwest. To this day, the smell of a freshly-opened can of Folger's makes me slightly nauseated - it smells rancid to my dainty nose.
Well done, Mr. Peets! Thank you for bringing coffee-knowledge to our backward country.
Hmm, I think the only think that smells better to me than a freshly-opened can of Folgers is a freshly-opened jar of Skippy peanut butter! ;-)
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