Seattle: The First Starbucks Store

Suanne and I must have a cuppa every morning. For some reason, we had never really liked the coffee from Starbucks. If we wanted coffee, we would head to Tim Horton’s.

While we were still in the Pike Place Market, we thought we make a visit to the first Starbucks outlet. This is (almost) where the it all began, where the first of trillions of cups were served. For coffee lovers, I guess visiting the first Starbucks is like a pilgrimage.

I said this is “almost” the first Starbucks. The actual first Starbucks is located just 500 ft from this shop. In many ways, this outlet can be considered as the first Starbucks. You see, when Starbucks were first opened in the earlier location, they only sold coffee beans and equipment for about 11 years. It was only after they moved to this location that the first cup coffee was brewed.

It goes without saying that Starbucks is now the biggest coffeehouse on the planet. But guess you would not have guessed it was started by three teachers.

The Starbucks logo is a green circular logo with a kind of a mermaid on it. This store sports the original all brown logo. Besides the colors, do you know what is the main difference between the original and the current one? Well, the original logo has the mermaid with exposed breasts. The current one is more modest and I think the reason it was changed was because when Starbucks went international, the original logo could be kind of sensitive in many other countries. That’s my theory.

The store was packed — many of whom are tourists who just wanted to have a piece of history. Right up front is a bronze plaque proclaiming this is indeed “The First”. The store was terribly crowded — I was not surprised.

BTW, anyone knows the origin behind the Starbucks name? Sounds like it’s named after a sci-fi movie or something.

Anyway, although Starbucks is the king of the hill in the world of coffee, Seattle is equally famous for their other two brands of coffeehouses … Seattle’s Best and Tully’s Coffee. If there is a coffeehouse capital in the world, I guess that would be Seattle.

OK, here is another theory of mine. I think coffee consumption is the highest in places where the weather is cold, drabby, and damp. There is nothing like a nice hot aromatic cup of coffee on a cold day.

We got ourselves a Frap and a cup of latte. For the life of me, I could never order a cup like some people do. For me, it’s easier saying I wanted a medium latte.

You experts tell me … why don’t Starbucks just size their drinks small-medium-large? Why confuse people with sizes like venti, grande and what’s the other size?

Tim Horton’s is still the best for us.