since its 2003 debut, starbucks's pumpkin spicelatte has been served over 200 million timeseven though nobody seems to know what's in it. when asked for nutritional details, starbuckssaid they are "unable to provide this levelof detail for every beverage customization." representatives instead refer to an official"pumpkin sauce" available for purchase, but itis not the same used by starbucks baristas. stolen 63-ounce jugs of the real pumpkin spicereportedly have an astringent chemical tasteand extensive use can cause headaches. even the official "pumpkin sauce" may haveproblems... it contains no pumpkin and uses"caramel color level iv," a known carcinogen.
how to roast ethiopian coffee beans, starbucks claims to support the welfare offarmers in developing countries... ...but a 2005 fight with ethiopia's coffeegrowers revealed that starbucks's sociallyresponsible image is only a marketing tactic. to protect the value of their unique coffees(sold to starbucks for only 2-3% of whatthe company charged consumers)... ...ethiopia sought to trademark its brands.
during the application process, the country wasshocked to find that starbucks had alreadyapplied for their own trademarks on the names. if successful, starbucks would have been ableto use the names on any coffee that they sold... ...cutting out the ethiopian farmers theyclaimed to support and depriving themof $80 million annually. when first opening its doors in seattle in1971, starbucks chose a curious corporatemascot to sit at the center of its logo... the original symbol featured a bare-breastedsiren with a mysterious twin fish-tail intendedto represent the nautical history of the city. later marketing-friendly versions of thelogo eliminated the bare breasts andobfuscated the siren's odd tail. conspiracy theorists believe that the changeswere made to hide starbucks's true intent... rotated upside-down, the siren's out-of-placetail appears more at home as thehorns of baphomet... ...the sabbatic goat god worshiped bythe knights templar.
...a possible allusion to starbucks'sinspiration for global expansion andfinancial domination. in 2012, starbucks decided to boost the varietyof teas it offered by acquiring teavana,a specialty retailer of loose-leaf teas. with starbucks spending $620 million on thepurchase, investors looked very closely atteavana and were shocked with what they found. lab tests of teavana's most popular teas werepositive for pesticide residue, and despitebeing labeled as such, none were "organic." 77% of the samples tested would have failedeuropean union pesticide import standards, withone variety containing 23 different pesticides. most concerning was the finding that 62% of theteas showed traces of endosulfan, a chemicalknown to cause infertility and birth defects. despite the concerns, starbucks pushedthrough the acquisition and proudlyserves teavana teas today. responding to growing community discontent overits rapid global brand expansion, starbucksturned to opening "stealth" locations in 2009. 15th street coffee and tea and roy streetcoffee and tea were both opened in seattleas secret de-branded starbucks.
gone were the siren logo, green aprons, and"tall, grande, and venti" designations – allreplaced to portray the shops as independent. the stores were proclaimed to be laboratoriesfor new starbucks concepts, but independentcoffee shop owners suspected a stealth attack. starbucks's move to squeeze local businessescame after their 2008 purchase of clover, abrewing machine used by many independent cafes. the equipment is no longer available forpurchase and owners of existing clovers havecomplained of deliberately slow service repairs.
