Coffee Shop Numbers

First came coffee from a small roastery in Berkeley that didn’t taste like brown water, and the next thing you knew, every one of the ga-jillion cafés that sprang up was packed with people meeting and reading and talking and texting. By now, the chains and the independents host social scenes rivaling anything else in the burbs, and caffeine has become our main drug of choice, at least from dawn ’til dusk.

1966 Year that Alfred Peet, the grandfather of “specialty” coffee, opened a shop on the corner of Vine and Walnut streets in Berkeley.

289 Number of Peet’s and Starbucks stores opened within a 20-mile radius of the original Peet’s location.

5 Average number of customers at Yellow Wood Coffee and Tea in Alamo who set up their laptops and stay all day.

5 Number of relationships that have begun and developed over steaming mugs at Pacific Bay Coffee Co. in Walnut Creek over the past 18 months.

10 Approximate number of customers per seven-hour shift at Berkeley’s Espresso Roma who become irate when they realize the “foam art” drawings in the café’s lattes are made with chocolate.