Frappuccinos, iced drinks, hot chocolates, cold brews, teas, and many more. Whether you go there everyday or just see pictures of people posing with their trending drinks on social media, everyone knows the name Starbucks. As of early 2020, Starbucks has around 30,000 locations worldwide in more than 70 countries. But have you ever wondered how this very popular chain got to be known all around the world?

In March of 1971, Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker, and Zev Siegl opened the first Starbucks in Seattle near the historic Pikes Place Market. The three invested and borrowed money in order to make something from their similar interests being they all loved coffee and tea. With this borrowed money they invested in a store and named it Starbucks after a character in the famous novel “Moby Dick.”

A coffee entrepreneur named Alfred Peet was one of the main inspirations to the Starbucks founders. His huge success in imported coffee beans and teas inspired the founders to base their store on selling high quality coffee beans and equipment. Peet’s then became the initial supplier of green coffee beans to Starbucks and a partnership was formed. They then purchased a roaster that was from Holland and used Peet’s roasting techniques to create their own flavors and blends. Then in 1984, the original owners of Starbucks purchased Peet’s coffee.

With a store now growingly popular, they decided that it should be time to start opening more stores. By 1986, Starbucks had just begun to sell espresso coffee and now operated six stores in Seattle. In 1987, the original owners sold Starbucks to Howard Schultz who then rebranded his coffee outlets to be named Starbucks which quickly expanded the company. Within that same year, Starbucks had also opened up their first location outside of Seattle in Vancouver, British Columbia as their location in Chicago, Illinois followed shortly after. By 1989, 46 Starbucks stores were located across the Midwest and Northwest. Their first store being opened outside of North America was located in Tokyo, Japan in 1996. Followed by that was the Philippines in 1997, then Australia in 2000, and Latin America in 2002. They also opened stores in Peru in 2003, Russia in 2007, and Europe in 2018.

Although Starbucks didn’t start off serving coffee at all, when they did decide to, one of their first drinks was the café latte in 1985. After that, expressos and iced coffees were served by 1986; however, it wasn´t until 1995 when the well-known frappuccino was created.

With the original flavors of coffee and mocha, frappuccinos became wildly popular. But the original frappuccino is not what you think––it was made from ice, strong Italian roasted coffee beans, and there was not even whipped cream. Then in 2002, the cremé based frappuccinos were introduced with new flavors including vanilla bean, and strawberries, and cremé. With all of their new drinks being launched, Starbucks didn’t start serving foods until 2003. These include their bakery items such as cake pops, lemon bread, and muffins.

Many people would know the Starbucks logo if they saw it, but what some probably don’t know is that their logo is actually a twin-tailed siren. While trying to choose a logo for their company the founders all agreed that they wanted a nautical theme to it, since it would go with the name. After lots of sketches and weeks of research, they finally came up with the mermaid or siren logo. The siren would have two tails and would be modified over time to be more modest. The original sketch artist was named Terry Heckler and is still designing new ideas for the evolving company. The color of the original logo was brown which is associated with the earth, nature, and stability. It was later changed in 1987 to a green that goes with nature and comes off as more eco-friendly. Starbucks then changed their logo again in 2011 and removed the words entirely from the logo because they believe that it is so well known that it doesn´t need the brand name.

From holiday specials to bonus stars day, Starbucks is something that can be enjoyed all year long. Teens can also apply for jobs there which comes with good benefits. Adults can stop by on their way to work and kids can drop by after school. No matter what age or what kind of drink you like, Starbucks can be enjoyed by everyone.