I recently celebrated my 20th year of employment at the original Peet's on the corner of Walnut & Vine Street. I came out from the East Coast that same year to continue my meditation studies in Zen Buddhism by moving into the Berkeley Zen Center where I still reside. By way of a part-time livelihood, Peet's has provided me with financial support and the opportunity to bring my meditation practice into the world. I've often lectured and written about these two aspects as the one piece of my Bay Area life. Much has already been said about the founder of Peet's Coffee & Tea regarding his high quality standards which i try to maintain at work. Upon reflection, one can see many aspects of his work ethic being applicable elsewhere as well--mindfulness, attention to detail, using a light hand to let the ingredients speak for themselves are but a few examples.

Mr. Peet, who died recently, reminds me of the 13th century Japanese Soto Zen monk Dogen Zenji. He wasn't satisfied with the native teachers of his day (nor was Mr. Peet satisfied with the coffee Americans were drinking) and thus he made a pilgrimage to Sung China in search of someone who could impart to him the Buddha's teachings. He "apprenticed" for five years before returning to his homeland and established the first Soto Zen temple in Japan. The teachings we follow are a direct result of that transmission.

Mr. Peet attended the Unitarian Church where the mother of our Zen priest friend was also a member. That friend and her husband (Blanche and Lou Hartman of San Francisco Zen Center) led two one-day silent meditation retreats for these Unitarians back in the 70's. They informed me that during the group's orientation the day before, the congregation laughed when they were told about the guideline of silence, explaining that when Unitarians are at a crossroads and given a choice between a road to God or one to talk about God, they traditionally choose the latter! However, Blanche told me that Mr. Peet was an enthusiastic participant at those retreats. Much later, when asked to recount his life's story, he responded simply, "The coffee tells my story." I think he learned something in that silence.

One could posit that Mr. Peet was to Dogen Zenji that the "other" coffee company is to Keizan Zenji. While in the same lineage as Dogen Zenji, a few generations later Keizan Zenji became a great propagator of Zen in Japan, especially to the laity, in contrast to the former's singular monastic model of Eihei-ji. That other company, having learned some fundamentals from Mr. Peet is rather ubiquitous whereas Peet's has remained small and intimate by comparison.

Have a cup of tea (or coffee),

Ross