Written by Taylor Clark — a guy who has NOTHING to do with the company itself — Starbucked tells the tale of how Starbucks began.

If you are a supporter of the mom-and-pop, unique cafe around the corner, and make it your life’s goal to avoid the seven Starbucks store that exist in one city block, you might be surprised that Starbucks was started by a few guys who were doing the same thing.

These guys were living in an era before major coffee chains, and when “American Coffee” would have taken paint off the wall. Not only that, the idea of the “cafe” where you could read, study, or visit with friends didn’t even exist. 

Fascinated by a specialty coffee shop that popped up where they were living, they started asking questions, doing some research and developing (what was at the time) a very ambitious business.

Combining his own investigations with witty observation, Clark tells the story of how the coffeehouse culture changed everyday life in North America and — as much as we hate to admit it — Starbucks led the way.

Give it a read, you might look at the green mermaid a bit differently if you do!