The Popular Coffee You Couldn't Order At The First Starbucks

There are times when I'm at Starbucks and am not really sure what drink I'm in the mood for. Most of the time on these occasions, I end up ordering a tall caffè latte, with an extra shot of espresso; no sweeteners, no syrups, no milk substitutions, just the classic latte, which is very different from a café au lait and is a drink I think the coffee chain does exceptionally well. And while the latte has been a Starbucks menu staple for decades, it wasn't on the company's original menu. In fact, you couldn't order anything to drink at the first Starbucks.

When it opened near Pike Place Market in Seattle in 1971, the original Starbucks sold nothing but coffee beans, and shortly thereafter, teas, spices, and coffee brewing equipment. The only drinkable coffee available there came in the form of small samples for customers to sip to get a taste of what the coffee beans could produce. It wasn't until 1982, a full decade later, that the few Starbucks locations began selling cups of drip coffee. Right around this time, the company's newly hired Director of Marketing, Howard Schultz, attended a trade show in Italy and returned with a novel idea: he wanted to test an espresso bar in one of the Starbucks locations.

In May 1984, at Starbucks' sixth location, an espresso bar was included, and the caffè latte was on the menu. The drinks were extremely popular, and put the company on a trajectory that would change Starbucks from a Pacific Northwest coffee bean seller to a global brand and culture changer.

The first Starbucks espresso bar was a novelty, albeit a very successful one. By 1987, espresso bars, lattes, and other drinks were being offered in every Starbucks location. Instead of visiting a Starbucks to pick up a bag of coffee beans, customers could now linger on site over cups of creamy lattes, foamy cappuccinos, and hot coffee. This was the beginning of Starbucks spearheading the coffeehouse culture that would skyrocket during the 1990s. While the caffè latte was arguably the most impactful offering up until that point, Starbucks' debut of its Frappuccinos in 1995 would cause a seismic quake again in its business, and in pop culture in general. They undoubtedly jump-started an obsession with cold coffee; currently, 75 percent of Starbucks orders are for cold drinks.

But the latte would not be left behind. It was still a popular drink order, with customers able to customize the cozy drink with different flavors. Howard Schultz actually commissioned a Seattle-based Starbucks barista to make a holiday-inspired latte in 1986, and the eggnog latte was born. Of course, the latte to end all lattes would debut in 2003 in the form of the Pumpkin Spice Latte, which would ultimately cause full-on pumpkin spice-flavored madness in everything from cereals to popcorn.