Lets take a step back in time:

At the beginning when the coffee giant first started out in Seattle in 1971, Starbucks coffee was just three friends with a passion for fresh gourmet coffee, Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker, they opened a small shop and began selling fresh-roasted, gourmet coffee beans and brewing and roasting accessories.

In 1980 Zev Siegl wanted out to explore his opportunities elsewhere. By that time Starbucks coffee was the biggest roaster in Washington with six different stores. In 1981 the little coffee giant managed to get the attention of Howard Schultz, a plastics salesman that noticed the huge supply of plastic drip coffee thermoses they were buying from Hammarplast.

Starbucks Coffee 1982, history was marked forever when Baldwin hired the highly energetic Schultz as the new marketing developer. It was not long after that he was sent on a business trip to an international housewares show in Milan, Italy 1983. Schultz was amazed and amused with the vibrant coffee culture of Italy. In another town nearby Verona, Schultz had his first caffe’ latte’ and, as he noticed people at the cafe talking and laughing exiguously while sipping on their coffees in the luxurious surroundings, ideas starting flowing.

In what he describes as an epiphany, the idea hit him, “I could start a community gathering place like the great coffee house of Italy in the United States?” he thought to himself. This idea would place Starbucks coffee history into the annuls of business journals for many years to come.

Latter on, while back in the united states, Schultz’s idea did not go over well with Baldwin and didn’t think it would be a good idea to wager over into the restaurant business aswell distracting him from his original goal of selling whole coffee beans. However, he did let him try out a small espresso bar in the corner of one of the coffee stores. It was an immediate success and Schultz branched out on his own and opened Il Giornale, a coffee house named after Italy’s largest newspaper, ‘The Daily’.

1987 Starbucks coffee was up for sale and Schultz managed to raise $3.8 million by convincing investors of his vision, one hundred and twenty-five outlets in the next five years. Schultz modified the Starbucks bare-breasted mermaid logo into a more socially acceptable figure, changed the name of Il Giornale to Starbucks and converted the six existing Starbucks coffee roasting shops into a more elegant, suitable coffee houses. Starbucks coffee history was just starting to take form.

Shultz reached his goal and more by 125 stores in 5 years, 1992 there were 165 cafes up and running. Today there are more then 8,000 stores in 30 different countries and annual revenues over $7.5 billion.

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Coffee specialty shops are often a franchise business owned by major corporations. However, many of these fine specialty coffee shops are privately owned and ran by smaller groups of people. The benefits of both the corporation and the small business are completely different. I know I enjoy the small business coffee specialty shop mush more than the larger franchise. Customer service, quality, and down-home comfort all while enjoying that awesome cup of gourmet Java. Larger franchises have the advantage of having conformity of coffee tastes from one location to the other, even from one country to the other. Whatever your choice, coffee specialty shops offer all coffee drinkers a truly different coffee experience.

As with all specialty coffee, specially grown gourmet coffee beans are used to create a uniquely flavored coffee bean. Only the finest of gourmet coffee beans are used in the process of creating the most exceptional specialty coffees. The components of the soil creates the coffee bean used by specialty coffee shops around the world. Of course, coffee shops also sell the roasted coffee bean by the pound to loyal customers. Exposing the gourmet coffee beans to the public allow coffee drinkers to build loyalty and ultimately to buy only that specific gourmet coffee bean.

Many specialty coffees are infused with additional flavors to better please the coffee drinker. These additional coffee flavorings add a whole new element to gourmet coffee beans. Not only do these flavorings add a new taste, but these flavored coffee beans also add a whole new robust aroma. The two qualities together make an idealistic opportunity for coffee retailers to present their loyal customers with new and often improved qualities of coffee beans. Coffee retailers are always ready to find new ways to provide high quality to loyal customers as well as new coffee drinkers.

Gourmet specialty coffee shops reach out to their customers. Offering gourmet specialty coffees that carry the coffee shop’s company label gets potential coffee drinkers to trust that coffee shop. Building trust is important in the coffee industry. When dealing with customers willing to spend $18 billion annually on coffee and coffee products, the coffee retailers are more than willing to customize coffee and coffee products for their customers.

Tana has been an avid coffee and tea drinker her whole life. She has tried more than 100 different varieties of coffee and tea. At her site, Tana reveals to you her delicious secret blends of coffee and tea that she has experienced through her years. To learn more about premium gourmet coffee visit http://www.thelittleteahouse.com