Starbucks is known for its decorative cups, bakery items and most importantly, its drinks. Starbucks is a chain of authentic coffee, made to bring many flavors to one cup.

Starbucks first opened in 1971 on the cobblestone streets of Seattle but started to grow when Howard Shultz, an American businessman, became very interested in Starbucks and the company it could become in 1980. He would then go on to build it to be the well-recognized and respected brand it is today, for over four decades. He quickly became inspired to bring the warmth and artistry of coffee culture to Starbucks. As he started broadening the company, Starbucks opened in Chicago, Vancouver, California, Washington DC and New York City. Once they opened these many locations the possibilities became endless for Starbucks.

“Our mission, with every cup, with every conversation, with every community- we nurture the limitless possibilities of human connections.” – Starbucks

Starbucks is very devoted to inspiring human connection and helping the economy. They yearn to embrace heritage and create new experiences to savor. They strive to bring aspiration to people positively while investing in humanity and connecting with people. They want to “give back to the planet by giving back more than we take.” One way Starbucks does this is through the cups they sell their coffee in. They created a cup that is more sustainable and made with less paper and plastic. The corporation had a goal in 2022 to make more recyclable and compostable cups but reinvented their cups to be “more sustainable” as seeing that was a hard task to complete, due to the pandemic.

Evolution of the Starbucks logo:

Starbucks’s logo of the two-tail siren is very well known throughout the world. This logo was designed by a famous graphic designer, Terry Heckler. He depicted the siren from the Starbucks name which was inspired by the book Moby Dick. In 1987 Starbucks was picked up by a new company, ll Giornale, an Italian-style cafe. They kept the name Starbucks, but Terry redesigned the logo. He merged the two companies and gave the siren a modern makeover by changing her look and color from brown to green. She then became the star of the show. Starbucks celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2011 and the siren became the logo we see now.

Starbucks reusable tumblers have become a very well-known cup and collector’s item throughout the years. Starbucks sells 16 oz tumbler cups in all sorts of styles and colors. Their most popular cups are the holiday-inspired ones. These include the iridescent white gold cup, the poinsettia red prism cup and the geometric rainbow glass cup, among many other options. Starbucks launched their reusable tumblers in 2018, and they became in demand by many because “they are cute and functional.” Many of the limited edition Christmas cups have become collector items in people’s homes. Because of the popularity of these cups, there are many Facebook groups of Starbucks tumbler enthusiasts. The most collected and popular cup in 2019, which is owned by every collector, is the matte black studded cup, which helped Starbucks tumblers grow in popularity. The cups have been sold for up to $300 to different collectors.

As the holiday season is approaching, Starbucks released its November-December holiday menu, featuring hot drinks, cold drinks and delicious treats.

Some hot drinks lots of people are excited about are the Caramel Brulee Latte, which is a combination of espresso, steamed milk, and caramel brulee sauce, the peppermint mocha, and of course their signature hot chocolates: milk chocolate, peppermint white chocolate or peppermint milk chocolate. If you are feeling an iced sweet drink, try their Iced Gingerbread Oat Milk Chai with a spiced chai tea blend paired with gingerbread flavored syrup and creamy oat milk, the blended peppermint mocha frappuccino (this includes blended mocha with peppermint syrup), or the iced sugar cookie almond milk latte, a blend of the Starbucks blonde espresso, sugar cookie flavor and almond milk.

I interviewed Brooklyn Snyder on her thoughts on the Iced gingerbread oat milk chai drink. “The taste was really good. I like it better than the sugar cookie one, but I think it would be better as a warm drink than a cold drink because sugar cookies have such a warm flavor to them.”