Starbucks and the Lifecycle of Specialty Coffee:
An Industry Evolving

Introduction
Today we stand witness to a new coffee era, one made up of Caffé Lattes,
Espresso Macchiatos, Cappuccinos and Frappuccinos. Specialty Coffee is here to stay and no one will be more eager to tell you that than Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, the world’s largest specialty coffee bar. The study of Starbucks Corporation leads one on a multifaceted journey through an organization’s insinuation into a culture, its dominance of a market and its creation of a brand synonymous with loyalty, integrity and longevity.
Understanding Starbucks’ development into an international giant and the strategic approach they took to get there begins with the origins of coffee itself.
Ever since it first spread through the Moslem world in the sixteenth century, coffee has played a pivotal role in society by providing meeting places for intellectuals from all sides of life to converge. As coffee was slowly introduced to the European world it was recognized for both its sociability and its taste. Soon Coffee houses were prevalent throughout Europe and were the natural locations for political, literary and societal debate. It crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the mid-seventeenth century and replaced beer as New York City’s favorite morning drink.
It can be said that the Boston Tea Party was the beginning of not one but two major revolutions in America. The first was the revolt of the colonists against England, and the second was coffee’s dominance as the beverage of choice for patriotic colonists.
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Throughout the history of America, coffee has played an important role within the context of a beverage. During the Civil War, coffee was a staple of the Union soldiers’ diets with an allocation of 36 pounds of beans a year for every soldier. By the mid-
1960’s the average American consumed