The year was 1993. Czechoslovakia was ceasing to exist, the Twin Towers suffered their first terrorist attack, Jurassic Park premiered in theaters, and the Endeavour traveled to space to fix the Hubble Telescope's optical flaw. That same year, a chain of coffee shops called Starbucks was already taking its first steps to become a global giant. Can you imagine ordering a coffee at a Starbucks store in 1993? This ten-minute video will clear up any doubts…
With the opening of its first international store in 1987 and its debut as a public company in '92, Starbucks was preparing to conquer the world, one latte at a time. From some perspective, it's hard to believe. A coffee shop chain as a global brand? More than five thousand branches in China? Yes, all that is true, but let's leave the present for another time. Today we're interested in its past… and in the experience of ordering a Starbucks coffee in 1993.
10 Minutes Inside a Starbucks in 1993
Unfortunately, we don't have data on the exact location of the store (we know it's Seattle) or whether it still exists, but we can extract other details. The first images suggest it's a cold season (beyond some drinks served with ice), and the video description published by Vampire Robot mentions the Eggnog Latte. This variant was removed from the menu in several regions last year, and was very popular near Christmas.
The pace of the store seems a bit more intense than normal, and personally I'll say the entire service area looks much more chaotic. Another colorful detail is that people only pay in cash (I imagine trying to use a card at a Starbucks in 1993 made you look like an alien). Needless to say, there are no laptops, and Wi-Fi didn't become a reality until 1997 with the first version of the 802.11 protocol. The official introduction of Wi-Fi at Starbucks dates back to 2002… and you had to pay for it back then.
