Jim Reynolds Honored By SCAA

Emeryville, CA — Peet’s Coffee Roastmaster Emeritus Jim Reynolds will this Friday, April 15, be rec­og­nized by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) with the pres­ti­gious “Alfred Peet Passionate Cup Award” at the organization’s annual expo held this year in Atlanta.

Established in honor of Alfred Peet, founder of Peet’s Coffee and widely regarded as the grand­fa­ther of spe­cialty cof­fee, this indi­vid­ual award dis­tin­guishes a per­son whose com­mit­ment to cof­fee is rep­re­sen­ta­tive of a gen­eral pas­sion for life and who has demon­strated a con­sis­tent record of dri­ving progress through pas­sion.

“We are extremely proud of Jim Reynolds, who is receiv­ing this award not only because he is a leader in the indus­try, but because of his abid­ing ded­i­ca­tion to the craft of cof­fee,” said Doug Welsh, VP Coffee & Roastmaster for Peet’s Coffee. “Jim does every­thing he can to cel­e­brate the legacy of Alfred Peet through ensur­ing that our cof­fee selec­tion and roast­ing meth­ods main­tain their excellence—ultimately serv­ing as an out­stand­ing exam­ple of what sets Peet’s Coffee apart, espe­cially dur­ing its 50th anniver­sary year.”

The offi­cial ambas­sador of Peet’s Coffee since 1984, Reynolds con­tin­ues to fos­ter the rela­tion­ships and prac­tices that ele­vate Peet’s cof­fee, its stores and its peo­ple. Reynolds learned the art of deep roast­ing from Peet and as they worked together, Peet rec­og­nized almost imme­di­ately that Reynolds had a nat­ural mas­tery of cof­fee beans. Forty-three years later, the pur­suit con­tin­ues.

“Jim Reynolds car­ries with him the same pas­sion and ded­i­ca­tion to craft that Alfred Peet instilled into every fiber of the busi­ness,” said Jerry Baldwin, Peet’s Coffee Board Member, who also worked with both Peet and Reynolds. “One of the most mem­o­rable things that Alfred said about Jim was, ‘For Jim, the cof­fee is liv­ing.’”

Reynolds began his career at Peet’s Coffee per­form­ing across roles, includ­ing Roastmaster. He con­tin­ues to pre­serve Peet’s her­itage in each and every bean.

ABOUT PEET’S COFFEE
Peet’s Coffee is a U.S. spe­cialty cof­fee com­pany founded by Alfred Peet in 1966 in Berkeley, CA. Mr. Peet grew up in the cof­fee trade and moved to America from Holland after World War II. Mr. Peet’s cof­fee style was unlike any­thing Americans had ever tasted before – small batches, fresh beans and a supe­rior qual­ity roast that is rich and com­plex. By 1969, Peet’s Coffee in Berkeley became a gath­er­ing place for cof­fee devo­tees (known as ‘Peetniks’) and other arti­san food crafters, and the area soon became known as ‘The Gourmet Ghetto.’

Alfred Peet’s influ­ence of the arti­san cof­fee move­ment inspired a new gen­er­a­tion of cof­fee entre­pre­neurs, includ­ing the founders of Starbucks. Today, Peet’s Coffee upholds its com­mit­ment to high qual­ity and fresh­ness by sourc­ing the world’s best beans, roast­ing in small batches, and main­tain­ing a strict stan­dard of fresh­ness through its unique direct store deliv­ery net­work. Peet’s con­tin­ues to grow its busi­ness through its retail, gro­cery and e-commerce chan­nels while main­tain­ing the pre­mium qual­ity of its cof­fee. Peet’s is a pri­vate busi­ness owned by JAB Holding Co. For more infor­ma­tion visit www.peets.com.