Why You Couldn't Order A Latte At The First Starbucks Store

Starbucks began somewhat informally, as a group of friends found inspiration in a local coffee business and started selling freshly roasted beans from their own store. Before Starbucks' Pike Place location even opened, the coffee beans were pedaled at the world's first Starbucks in a Seattle building that has since been demolished. Then, when Starbucks relocated in 1971 and opened its historic Pike Place store (which is full of Easter eggs), a lone employee sold bags of roasted coffee and passed out cups of freshly brewed coffee. 

The coffee was offered to visitors as samples as a kind of advertising stunt to lure customers into purchasing some of the whole beans, coffee makers, grinders, and teapots placed in the store. Offerings available at this location were nothing like the menus today. The Pike Place Starbucks store didn't (and still doesn't) serve food, and there were no cold drinks to order on warm days. Forget about lattes and any customizable drinks or a range of snacks to accompany beverages. With only a single team member manning the business, customers could simply walk away with bags of roasted coffee beans, tea, and some spices to take home. The idea to start slinging drinks — particularly specialty ones — didn't come until later. 

In 1982, former chairman and CEO Howard Schultz first joined Starbucks as the director of retail operations. He left for Italy a year later, and returned with inspiration from his excursions and looked to bring elements of the coffee culture he experienced abroad to the company. One of these ideas was the latte. Schultz suggested that Starbucks try to imitate the ambiance he had admired in Europe, and café lattes, among other espresso-based drinks, were part of this concept. Caffé lattes were first poured in tourist-friendly Italian establishments, and the recipe is thought to have evolved from milky cappuccinos enjoyed in the 1860s. 

Though Italy has had a long-lasting cultural impact on American coffeehouses and milk-based coffee drinks have been enjoyed throughout Europe since as early as the 17th century, Americans' enthusiasm for creamy coffee helped lattes gain popularity worldwide. Flavors were splashed into the drinks in the early 1980s, and as lattes became enhanced with syrups, Starbucks' various flavored offerings helped boost company sales — the now-iconic Pumpkin Spice Latte alone increased profits by 11% the first year it was offered. Largely thanks to Schultz, the idea of a coffee shop without a latte today seems nearly as far-fetched as starting up an international business by simply selling beans.