Flying High: Celebrating Space Travel and High-Altitude Coffee
Today we are celebrating flying high! 50 years ago today on April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel in space. He is a much-celebrated cosmonaut, who literally set the standard for aspiring to lofty ambitions. Five years after Gargarin soared beyond the earth's atmosphere, Alfred Peet opened Peet's coffee in Berkeley, California---in April 1966. He too was ambitious, having immigrated from Holland in 1955 after spending time in Indonesia working for Lipton tea. He was also focused on altitude--specifically "high-altitude" coffee from Costa Rica, Guatemala, and East Africa. He found this coffee superior to what was available in the United States at the time. Drinking a cup of Peet's coffee today, I was grateful for its strong aroma and slightly bitter taste---offset by just the right amount of skim milk. Kudos to Gagarin and Peet---who both stand tall in the annals of firsts!