Founder of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf passes away
Herbert Hyman, who founded The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf company with his wife more than 40 years ago, passed away recently at the age of 82. Hyman was instrumental in broadening the understanding and popularity of gourmet coffee in the US, along with Alfred H. Peet, who founded Peet's Coffee and Tea. They paved the way for the US coffee revolution and companies such as Starbucks that followed. Jim Stewart, who started Seattle's Best Coffee after learning to roast at the original Coffee Bean location, described Hyman as a "grandfather of specialty coffee in the US". The company currently operates over 900 locations in 29 countries.