The undoubted global coffee chain giant and a major player in the second wave of coffee. Starbucks' first store was opened in 1971 at Seattle Pike Place Market, influenced by Peet's coffee, which initially specialized in coffee beans and later transformed into a chain of coffee shops that sold both roasted coffee beans and freshly ground coffee. According to the company's 2018 annual report, Starbucks currently has a presence in 75 countries and regions around the world, with more than 10,000 direct stores and nearly 15,000 franchised stores.
 
When it comes to sourcing green coffee beans, Starbucks follows the principles of fair trade. Starbucks began sourcing fair trade coffee in 2000, but it was only used in some markets and did not achieve full coverage until 2008, when Starbucks, together with the Fair Trade Organization of the United States and the Fair Trade Labeling Organization International, announced that Starbucks would expand the purchase of fair trade coffee in 2009 to 40 million pounds, and Starbucks became the world's largest fair trade certified coffee buyer.
 
Starbucks has four roasting centers around the world, namely Washington, Pennsylvania, Nevada and the Netherlands, where green beans purchased from the world's major coffee producing countries will be roasted in four places, and then shipped to all regions.
 
In the situation that the specialty coffee trend has swept the world, Starbucks has also come up with a countermeasure - a high-end selection series. Different from the conventional series, Starbucks' selection series refers to high-quality coffee beans produced by small batches, special varieties and special processing methods. It is true that the beans of the Starbucks selection series are scarce and precious, but due to the restrictions of roasting locations, the beans usually exceed the best tasting period when they arrive at the consumer end, and the price of the selected beans is about 180 yuan/250g, which is not cost-effective.
 
As for Starbucks beans, many coffee lovers think that their quality is not good, and they are regarded as a, because in order to ensure stable quality, Starbucks usually roasts the coffee beans to a very deep degree, almost all of which are in the middle and late stages of the second explosion, and at this time, the beans have lost most of their flavor, leaving only a thick bitter taste and oil, and no fruit sourness, sweetness and other characteristics of specialty coffee.