VICTORY! Peet’s Coffee Drops Vegan Milk Surcharge After PETA Pressure

Updated March 15, 2025: And that’s a frappe! Just days after PETA launched a national campaign pressing Peet’s Coffee to stop charging extra for vegan milk, with longtime PETA pal Sir Paul McCartney part of the push, the chain has announced that it will stop penalizing conscientious consumers for choosing plant milks that are kind to cows, their calves, and the planet. Sir Paul wrote to Peet’s Coffee CEO Eric Lauterbach, and the chain knew that PETA was planning a blitz of targeted billboards near stores across the country, a stirring social media campaign, and protests outside its stores, and had already received letters from more than 40,000 PETA supporters urging the chain to join Starbucks, Dunkin’, and other coffee giants that had dropped the punitive plant milk price hike. PETA is celebrating Peet’s adoption of the new industry standard and is urging the few remaining holdouts, like Caribou Coffee and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, to join in to save mother cows from being separated from their beloved calves and reduce methane emissions.

Originally posted March 12, 2025:

Peet’s Coffee claims to care about sustainability but charges at least 80 cents extra for plant milk, a policy that means cow mothers lose their beloved calves, adds methane to the ozone layer, supports forests being cut down to grow cattle feed, and pollutes the rivers with the runoff from dairy farms. PETA is launching a nationwide campaign, with a little help from our friend Sir Paul McCartney, calling on Peet’s Coffee to stop milking conscientious consumers by charging more for climate- and cow-friendly vegan milk. Please help us urge Peet’s to join Starbucks, Dunkin’, and other coffee giants in dropping the vegan milk upcharge now.

Peet’s Coffee Needs to Stop Milking Its Customers With A Vegan Upcharge

Peet’s Coffee—which has more than 465 locations in the U.S., China, and the Middle East—currently offers almond, oat, and Ripple milk (made from peas), typically charging customers at least 80 cents more for substituting cow’s milk with plant milk.

Using Cow’s Milk Kills Cows and Fuels the Climate Catastrophe

There is no retirement home for “spent” cows exploited like handmaids in the dairy business. Their abuse in the dairy industry is extreme. Mother cows mourn and wail for their stolen calves for days and have been known to break through fences and travel for miles looking for their babies after workers pull them away from them within hours of birth so that the milk meant for those babies can be sold.

Male calves are considered “useless” to the dairy industry, and most are killed for veal. Adult cows also end up in slaughterhouses after their reproductive systems no longer produce enough milk to be profitable.

Help us get Peet’s Coffee to stop encouraging customers to choose cow’s milk over the compassionate plant milk options by imposing a hefty surcharge on vegan milks, putting a financial hurdle between customers and the kinder, more healthful choice.

Dairy milk is an environmental disaster. It fuels deforestation, water waste, and greenhouse gas emissions. And catch this: Peet’s Coffee has promoted “free vegan milk” for Earth Month because it knows vegan milk is better for the environment. But the rest of the time, Peet’s ignores the climate catastrophe and charges extra for the environmentally friendly option. If it doesn’t drop the vegan upcharge and make sustainability affordable for customers, Peet’s is certainly not the environmentally conscious company it claims to be. 

What PETA Is Doing to Urge Peet’s Coffee to Drop Its Vegan Milk Upcharge

PETA Has Partnered With Paul McCartney in Appeal to Peet’s—And Here’s How We Can All Come Together Right Now!

Longtime PETA pal and rock icon Sir Paul McCartney has kicked off the campaign with a letter pressing Peet’s to join the rapidly growing list of coffee chains—including Starbucks and Dunkin’—that have dropped the unfair plant milk upcharge.

“I must say this [vegan milk upcharge] surprised me as I understand that your company is committed to reducing methane emissions and water waste, yet cow’s milk significantly contributes to them. I would like to politely request that you consider dropping the upcharge on plant milks, just as Starbucks and Dunkin’ have recently done.” –Sir Paul McCartney

PETA Launches Ad Blitz and Hosts Demonstrations Nationwide

To coincide with McCartney’s outreach and the launch of the campaign, PETA is kicking off a nationwide ad blitz on March 17 with a striking billboard directly outside Peet’s Oakland location—just down the road from their corporate headquarters in Emeryville.

McCartney will be starring in his own billboard, which will launch soon.

PETA supporters are also hitting the streets with protests outside Peet’s locations around the country. First up, PETA members will gather outside Peet’s flagship store in San Francisco—alongside a “dead” calf in a giant Peet’s Coffee cup.