Behind every cup of coffee is a short story about Starbucks that you must not know.

Today, there is a Starbucks on almost every corner of the world's metropolis, but in 1971 it was just a small door that brought caffeine to sleepy people in Seattle. At this moment, 24 years before the birth of Pink Pink, the founder had no idea that the company could go public, let alone what a Pumpkin Spice Latte (pumpkin latte) is. Obviously, too much has happened in the next 40 years, so it's time to talk about the secret history of Starbucks that you don't know.

1. The founders are two teachers and a writer.

(from left above: Starbucks founders Zev Siegl,Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker)

The one person Starbucks has to mention is the company's current chairman and CEO Howard Schultz, who has grown with the company on and off since the 1980s. But Starbucks was originally founded by three non-business people: Gordon Bowker (writer), Zev Siegl (history teacher) and Jerry Baldwin (English teacher). They wanted to bring the best coffee to Seattle, so they opened the first Starbucks in Park Market in 1971. At first only coffee beans were sold, but the addition of Howard Schultz made a difference.

two。 The name comes from Moby Dick.

"Starbucks" is the first mate of the high school career in Moby Dick, a famous American writer. Although this sounds bizarre enough, the original idea is even more outrageous. Gordon Bowker's first name is the name of the whaling ship in the novel-Pequod. Fortunately, the smarter idea won. Does Starbucks sound like caffeine? Maybe it's because the first mate likes coffee.

3. The original mermaid was not a goddess.

It is generally believed that Starbucks Logo is a siren, designed to attract you to buy a cup of coffee. But the original one is not the current heartthrob, it can be described as topless, very unsightly. In 1987, they covered her breasts with long hair, but it was still "unsuitable for children" and did not change into the current version suitable for young and old until 1992.

4. The name of the cup size doesn't mean anything.

Many talk shows have complained about Starbucks' unique terminology. But going back to the source, there is really no definite basis for why small cups are called tall or large cups are called venti. The cup-size system first appeared not at Starbucks, but at Il Giornale, another coffee chain founded by Howard Schultz in 1986, whose partner Dawn Pinaud admitted they just came up with it in a conference room.

5.NPR (National Public Radio) used to joke that Starbucks wanted to build an intercontinental pipeline.

In 1996, NPR's All Things Considered program solemnly told the audience that Starbucks was planning an intercontinental coffee pipeline that would allow freshly roasted coffee beans to travel thousands of miles. But the announcement date is April 1. Most people smiled, but a few turned to Starbucks staff for confirmation.

6. The inventor of Pumpkin Spice Latte is a Stanford basketball player.

Thanks to Peter Dukes, who studied economics and basketball at Stanford and joined Starbucks after getting his MBA in 2001, he was appointed to launch a new fall espresso drink after two years of work. Although there have been many rejected proposals before, Peter Dukes believes that the latte inspired by pumpkin pie is the right direction, and history has proved him right. Given this contribution, he even has a place in Starbucks HQ frescoes, right between the PSL Cup and the Big Pumpkin.

7. Starbucks has signed up for rock stars such as Paul McCartney.

(from left above: Joni Mitchell, Paul McCartney, James Taylor)

In 2007, weeks after Starbucks and Concord Music Group founded record company Hear Music, it signed Beatles rock star Paul McCartney. In addition to his brief career at Columbia Records in the 1980s, Paul McCartney had been working with EMI for more than 40 years. Hear Music has since signed James Taylor (an American folk singer who was a leading Singer-songwriter Movement in the 1970s) and Joni Mitchell (an influential Canadian legendary musician, painter, poet, visual artist and social observer who is recognized as the greatest female singer-songwriter in history).

8. Invisible Starbucks

After a particularly sluggish few years at Starbucks, two Seattle stores were involved in the Witness Protection project, with 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea and Roy Street Coffee masking any obvious Logo, terminology, clerk uniforms and adding other dishes to the menu, such as meat plates. These "invisible Starbucks" are equivalent to experimental bases, and their aim is to remove any brand imprint and test new ideas without affecting the objective evaluation of consumers. In 2011, 15th Avenue Coffee officially reinstated Starbucks, but it seems that Tea and Roy Street Coffee is still hidden.

9.CIA also drinks Starbucks.

There is only one Starbucks in the world that can call itself an espionage cafe-located at CIA Langley headquarters. There, your name will never be misspelled or even called out. Because all customers are very cautious about their identity, Langley stores will not use any names, and if you want to be a waiter, let agents check your wealth background first! According to them, senior intelligence officials also like mocha Frappuccino.

10. The stock price, which used to be only $17, has quadrupled in ten years.

When Starbucks first went public in 1992, it sold for $17 a share. At one point in 2014, it was close to $80 (as of press time: $52.63). Now think about it: would it be embarrassing not to order a large cup if you bought stocks earlier?