George Howell (born 1945) is an American entrepreneur and one of the pioneers of the specialty-coffee movement in the early 1970s.
He studied art history, French, and Spanish literature at Yale University from 1964 to 1967, when he dropped out.
After having lived in Berkeley, California, for a time, Howell has said, "In 1974 we [decided] to leave the West Coast, I already had two kids with another on the way.
We stopped at the various Howard Johnson’s that were on the interstates on our way and I would go into men’s room, grind the coffee there, leaving it smelling a whole lot better than when I walked in, and then I would take out my French press on the counter, ask for hot water for 35 cents and make my French press at the Howard Johnson’s counter.
[1][5][6][7] In 1997, Howell was invited to become a quality consultant to Brazil as part of the Gourmet Project, a 2-year initiative set up by the United Nations’ International Trade Council (ITC) and the International Coffee Organization (ICO), which influenced the creation of the Cup of Excellence competition.