Starbucks Gets It

I'm a sucker for coffee mugs. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I think the mug you choose to drink your daily ground bean goodness in says a lot about you. So I usually put a little thought in to picking just the right ceramic recepticle to hold my brew.

While on a recent trip to Frankfort, KY I purchased a cup that subtlety grabbed my attention. My eyes first went to the Sumatra cup, and I held that testament to the Sumatra goodness in my hands until I read these words on my new simple brown mug:

On a faraway hillside, Manolo rakes his coffee beans in the sun. He is preparing them for their pilgrimage north. A journey where they will be refined by fire. Each morning, I am greeted by coffee from a land I have never seen, but I have tasted its beauty. Thanks to Manolo.

And there it is - the cornerstone of the Starbucks experience: Community. I may be a hemisphere away from the source of my coffee bean, but a picture is painted with these words that takes me to that world where I meet a man named Manolo, and we share an experience because he cared enough to grow good coffee beans.

Now, I realize you might be thinkin' that I'm reading just a little too much into all of this, but each of us - you and me and everyone else - are looking for people to share the journey with. When I taste the beauty of this life, it becomes truly beautiful for me when I can share that with . . . you. I told a friend the other day that life is made worth living by the things we share with someone else, and ultimately, the things we do for someone else.

The next time you have the chance, look around inside a Starbucks. Read the signage. Smell the smells. Listen to the music. And ask yourself if you don't catch yourself feeling like you're with friends. Community: Starbucks gets it.