The Coffee House - A History (INeedCoffee.com)

The Coffee House - A History

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The Espresso Revolution

Just as coffee houses spread all over Europe in the 17th century, they were also opened in America in the late 17th century. The Merchant’s Coffee House in Philadelphia, also known as the City Tavern, was the meeting place of some of the finest gentlemen of the time, including Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Lafayette and John Adams. The Tontine Coffee House in New York, in similar fashion to Lloyds of London, became the home of the New York Stock Exchange. Not only were the coffee houses places of intellectual trading, but hubs of business and opportunity.

As coffee became more widely used and known, there arose many new inventions pertaining to the process of brewing coffee. So many, in fact, that there is a museum in London (the Bramah Museum of Tea & Coffee www.teaandcoffeemuseum.co.uk) that is filled with these devices. The original European and American coffee houses served traditional black coffee brewed by steeping the grounds in near boiling water, but in the early 1900’s there came about a new method that would revolutionize the coffee industry.

In Italy, Luigi Bezzera filed a patent for a machine that pushed steam and water through a "group" that held the coffee grounds in a filter. Later this patent was purchased by Desiderio Pavoni, and in 1905 the Pavoni company began manufacturing machines based on the Bezzera patent. In 1927 the first espresso machine was brought to America. This La Pavoni machine is still on display at the place where it was first installed, Caffe Reggio in New York, with a title of "Home of the Original Cappuccino." Although this method increased the speed dramatically, from a brewing time of 4 minutes to about 20 seconds, hence the name espresso, the coffee tasted bitter because the steam was too hot.

Through more fine tuning of the idea, from Cremonesi to Rosetta Scorza to Achille Gaggia in 1946, we have the piston lever espresso machine. The Gaggia Coffee Bar in Italy was the first location to use these machines and to offer espresso along with the regular coffee. The modern age of coffee houses was born. And today, we have super automatic machines that can do everything, grinding the coffee and pouring the completed drink into the glass. It is these super automatic machines that Starbucks relies on every day.

The espresso machine and the Italian coffee house were two ingredients necessary to the formation of the coffee house giant, Starbucks, but oddly enough, Starbucks did not start out having anything to do with espresso. Named after Starbuck, the coffee loving first mate in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, the company started out as a roaster and retailer of coffee beans, located in Seattle’s busy Pike Place Market. Starbucks Coffee, Tea, & Spice sold high quality coffee makers, from Hammarplast, for patrons to use at home, but focused on roasting high quality coffee beans from regions around the world and not on preparing the coffee.

Their mentor was Alfred Peet who had his store, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, in Berkely, CA, which was also only a roaster and retailer of fine Arabica beans. As their customer base grew, Howard Schultz, the VP and US manager for Hammarplast, took notice of their quickly increasing sales numbers and soon paid them a visit. By this time Starbucks already had four stores in the Seattle area, was profitable every year, and was buying more from Hammarplast than Macy’s. Schultz was so impressed by the founder’s passion and authenticity that he even stated there was something magic about the place, and so he wanted to go to Seattle and work for them. It took over a year of courting before they finally agreed to let him take over as head of marketing.

A couple of years after he was hired to this position the company sent him to Milan, Italy, to attend a trade show. While he was walking from his hotel to the convention he discovered something – the Italian coffee house, which actually in Italy is a coffee bar. There was Italian opera music playing in the background, the smiling barista making the espresso drinks and socializing with the clientele, and surprisingly very few chairs. He was struck by the large number of coffee bars in this town and how they were all bustling with activity. He was inspired and brought his passion back to Seattle, where it was met with great distaste and resistance. Starbucks was a roaster, not a restaurant or bar; the beverage business would distract them their mission as a coffee retailer. The answer, "NO." At the same time the owners were excited about the opportunity that had opened up to purchase Peet’s Coffee and Tea, which they did.

Now traveling back and forth between the companies, Schultz still pursued the idea of a coffee bar. After a year, they finally agreed to allow an espresso machine in one location, and that day they served 400 people, well above their 250 customer average. In two months it grew to 800 people and the lines stretched outside the door. Even through this success, the original owners did not want to pursue this venture. Schultz decided the only thing he could do was leave and start his own company, Il Giornale Coffee Company. It did great and quickly grew to three profitable stores.

Starbucks Original Store Pike Place Market
Photo Original Starbucks Store - Pike Place Market by INeedCoffee / CoffeeHero

In April of 1987 the owners of Starbucks decided to sell the business, one owner wanted to cash out and the other was going to focus on Peet’s Coffee & Tea, and he said that Peet’s was original and it was better. Schultz knew that he needed to purchase Starbucks, and after raising enough capital he did, afterwards changing the name of all of his Il Giornale coffee bars into Starbucks. His vision, dedication, and leadership skills propelled Starbucks into the world class company it has become.