Jerry Baldwin

Jerry Baldwin studied literature and worked as an English teacher before Starbucks. He learned coffee roasting from Alfred Peet, the founder of Peet's Coffee and a central figure in American specialty coffee, and brought Peet's dark-roast approach to the first Starbucks store.

Jerry Baldwin co-founded Starbucks. He was an English teacher in Seattle with a strong interest in dark-roasted Arabica coffee, and he saw that good coffee beans were hard for American consumers to buy. In 1971 he opened the first Starbucks store at Pike Place Market with Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker. Baldwin set strict roasting standards and taught early customers how to brew coffee at home. The business he helped start was the one Howard Schultz later expanded worldwide.