Washington. The 42nd state is known for various things. Evergreen forests, eco-friendly policies, an expanding tech industry, he's quite a progressive hipster. Although, he can be a bit weird concerning his Bigfoot obsession. 

Of course, one of the biggest things the state is known for is its coffee. The caffeinated drink is incredibly popular with his residents who are known to drink lots of it. Maybe not as much as Finland, but they're nevertheless obsessed with the drink. Evidence of this love is seen in one of America's biggest companies who you've probably seen many times, possibly while ordering a drink or a snack while you're there.

Arising from Seattle in the 1970s, Starbucks has grown to be a large company with establishments across the world. Their motto is, as quote, "To inspire and nurture the human spirit — one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time."

☆☆☆☆☆

December 1980.

It was a cold, rainy morning in Seattle, Washington. 

It was still dark outside. Slick snow drifts were out on the road since two days ago. Add the fact it was a Monday, a certain Washingtonian wished the holiday break came sooner, so he didn't have to get out of his toasty bed. Unfortunately, there was this thing called a job he needed to deal with first.

With a yawn and a stretch, George got out of bed and prepared for work. Bathroom, closet, kitchen, then to the garage he went. He adjusted his pair of glasses on his nose, and he adjusted his tie underneath his beige trench coat. He got into his light green Beetle. He waited for the engine to warm up the car first before he backed his car out of the garage. As he was slowly rolling out onto the dark down, The Rolling Stones' song "Start Me Up" played from the stereo.

'How appropriate,' he thought as he slowly drove onto the slick road. He yawned. 'Damn. I could go for some coffee right now.'

He was driving through 1912 Pike Place when he saw the bright, yellow light coming out from a caramel brown, square building. He parked his car along the sidewalk in front of the shop. He looked at the building's glass window from his car. Plastered on the large window was a burgundy emblem of what appeared to be a topless mermaid with long, flowing hair covering her breasts. A bit odd for a logo, he thought. He then noticed four words below the naked mermaid. From left to right, it read: Cappuccino, Caffe, Latte, and Espresso.

'Espresso. Just what I need.'

George parked his car and cut the engine. He looked out the car window again, noting the downpour he wished would stop by now. Unfortunately, it looked like the weather wasn't going to clear up anytime soon. Sure, the door to the coffee shop was only a few feet across. But he didn't want to get soooaaked... Maybe he should've brought an umbrella with him. Then again, umbrellas were always a hassle to carry around. Well, fuck it!

Quickly, he left the car and made a mad dash for his life.

Ka-chink!

The wet Washingtonian scrambled through the doors like a soggy Labrador after a bath. The cold rain shook George awake, however, he was still in the mood for coffee, craving for its heat and precious caffeine. His shoes squished and sloshed with every step against the coffee floorboards as the young man looked around the small coffee shop.

The first thing he noticed were the lack of tables. There were a few stools along the L-shaped counter, but that was it. Along one wall were mocha cabinets. The shelves were aligned with coffee mugs in different shades of brown and beige. There were also bags of roasted coffee beans and jars of grounded coffee. The bitter aroma coming from off the bags was enough to stimulate George's senses. He looked up along the walls for the menu, however, there was no menu. There was only a wall and a few shelves of stacked mugs.

'What is this place?' he questioned.

"Hello! Can I help you?" a man's voice startled George from his thoughts. 

He turned around and spotted a man in his thirties coming out from a door in the back of the room. The man wore a forest green apron over a black T-shirt. In his hands was a box he was setting down behind the counter. He gave George a friendly, bearded smile once he stood behind the cash register.

George quickly gave the store one more quick scan before walking up to the man from his side of the counter. "Um, can I get a double shot of standard espresso?

The man gave him a strange look. "I'm sorry, but we only make roasts."

George couldn't help but utter out a short groan of disappointment. "Oh... Thanks for clearing that up. I guess I'll be on my way now." He started to walk away.

"H-Hey wait!" the clerk spoke up. George glanced back at the clerk. "We do have an espresso machine. If you want, I can make you a sample and have you judge the quality for yourself."

George thought about declining his offer. Then again, he looked at the time on his Rolex watch. He also looked back outside, shivering at the thought of driving through the rain again. 'Better than nothing,' he thought with a shrug.

"Alright." George got himself on top of a stool by the counter. He watched the clerk toy around with the espresso machine along the wall. In less than a minute, the clerk made three freshly-made shots of espresso and presented them to George.

"Here you go, sir." The clerk took the third shot for himself.

George took one of the espresso shots and gulped the hot liquid down. Immediately, the rich, mildly bitter caffeine brought his body to life. The strong aroma and pleasant aftertaste was a bonus. The clerk was still present, watching George's reaction as he tasted the espresso.

"That has to be one of the best espressos I've ever tasted," George complimented with a smile that broke him out of his Monday gloom.

"Why thank you." The clerk beamed. "If you want, I can offer a good deal on the roast we used to brew up that espresso."

"I'd like to, but I couldn't," George politely declined. "I prefer to get my coffee at coffeehouses."

The clerk seemed to understood his reasons. "Understandable. If you can, we like for our name to get across the entire city."

George shook his head. "You can do better." The clerk gave him a perplexed look. "You can start brewing coffee."

He frowned. "I don't know. My friends and I do love coffee, but I don't think we have the expertise to brew drinks."

George gestured to his empty cup. "You seem to be an expert with espressos. You can start selling those. I'll even come here daily before work just to drink them. I'll even pay you." He drank his second shot while he brought out his wallet.

"T-That's alright! These are just samples."

"That's okay. I have plenty of money." George gave him three dollars. "Use it to expand your business."

The clerk softly smiled. "Alright. I'll talk to my friend about it."

"Good." George got up from the stool. "I have to go now. Thanks for the coffee, bro."

"Feel free to come back any time." The clerk waved.

George walked out the door. He noticed the downpour was now a sprinkle. The sky was turning a royal blue with hints of bright yellow and white in the distance. There were more cars on the road than before. Soon, it would build up to traffic. George could only hope he could beat the traffic before then. He got back to his car and started the engine. He turned up the volume of the stereo as Bohemian Rhapsody echoed out from the speakers. He proceeded to drive off, heading down to the red traffic light.

He glanced at the rear view mirror and noticed the coffee shop in the reflection. Now that it wasn't dark out, he could finally see the name of the place he would soon be visiting every morning.

"Starbucks," George mumbled the coffee shop's name.

Once the light turned green, he continued on driving.

~ 35 Years Later ~

"George! Morgan! Merry Christmas!" the barista called.

The Starbucks employee received a couple of weird looks from the other coffee goers that sat around the café.

Three young adults walked forward to the counter. George got his Pike Place Roast. Morgan (Oregon) got her Matcha Lemonade. And "Merry Christmas" got a Cupcake Crème Frappuccino Blended Crème.

"George. Morgan," the barista gave them their respective drinks. The young man gave the Californian a sarcastic look before giving her the drink she ordered. "Merry Christmas." He tipped his hat to her.

"Thank you," the Californian giggled as she took her drink, "and happy holidays."

The West coast friends went back to their table with their drinks.

"Was it worth it?" George gave Aurelia (California) a disapproving look.

Cali brushed his condescending comment off. "That's what they get for giving me a boring ass cup. A bunch of pissed off Christians have made this a meme now, and I'm getting in on it." She got her phone and framed the cup before taking a picture of it.

She proceeded to get on Snapchat and make a post about her day so far. 'Chilling with my friends in Seattle! #MerryChristmasStarbucks.' She texted with a smug look on her face.

After that was done, Cali enjoyed her drink. Both George and Morgan stared at her with frowns on their faces.

"What? It's not as bad as the #RaceTogether campaign."

George sighed. "Yeah. That was totally stupid." He took a swig of his coffee.

"#ItsJustACup," Morgan mumbled while texting on her phone.

Cali gave Morgan a dead serious look. "Bro. It's not 'just a cup'. This is Starbucks Red Cups!" She shouted, getting a couple of heads to turn her way.

"It has Christmas colors at least." Morgan came to the cup's defense. "It's simple and unique. That's all I'm going to say about it."

She scoffed, "You know what else it is? Dull, pathetic, and anti-Christmas! Like, I could get a red cup from Party City and slap the stupid Starbucks logo on it. Hell, I could get a red sharpie, color a regular Starbucks cup, and sell it as their Red Cup. In fact, I could spend less than five minutes using MS paint to color in the white spaces, print it out, and origami the fuck out of it. That's how unimaginative this shitty ass cup is."

George was about to come to the cup's defense. "Well-"

"Not only is this cup lazy as fuck, it's such a total downer! In the spirit of the holiday season, I expect snowflakes on that red cup! I except an adorable snowman to greet me with a smile when I get my frappuccino! I expect Jingle Bells! I expect winter sleighs! I expect sparkly Christmas trees! I expect cute-ass reindeer, especially Rudolph! That red-nosed fucker deserves to be on a Red Cup! For fuck's sake, they didn't even try to put Santa on the cup, and he's red and white for Christ's sake!"

"But nooooooo! I spend over a thousand dollars a year on Starbucks, and this is the thanks I get. A bland... red... joke.... In no hella way am I going to put up with this cheap, ghetto, garbage bin! Starbucks ruined Christmas for me, and I expect a refund! I demand they bring back their previous Red Cups, or else I'm boycotting them from my home!" She pounded her fist on the table, huffing with reddened cheeks.

The entire café was shocked into silence. Even the workers behind the counter stopped to listen to this crazy blonde's outrageous spiel over a Starbucks cup. Both George and Morgan blinked their eyes at Cali.

"... Dude, it's just a cup-"

"NO, IT ISN'T!"

"Why can't we just enjoy our drinks?" Morgan sighed, hiding her face in her hands.

☆☆☆☆☆

To those who aren't aware, the Starbucks you always order to get through those tough, busy mornings is all thanks to Washington (the state). The original Starbucks coffee shop in Seattle was moved to 1912 Pike Place around 1976-79. It wasn't until later in the 80s' did they serve coffee beverages (they used to sell only coffee roasts and espressos). Today, Starbucks has grown so big, they have coffee houses across the world. Of course, like any large company, they'll always wind up in controversies. For Starbucks, the ones I mentioned include the #RaceTogether campaign in March 2015 and the #MerryChristmasStarbucks Red Cup controversy during the holiday season of 2015 (man, 2015 must've been a rough year for them...).

On a side note, I originally planned to write the chapter on the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980. My main beef with the chapter involved problems with the story's tone, conflicted on whether the chapter should be a dark disaster or a dark comedy story. In the end, I grew frustrated with many rewrites and ended up not publishing a completed chapter on the topic. Maybe next time perhaps. Then again, a story on one of Washington's dumb laws is pretty tempting.

~

Feel free to vote or leave a comment on your thoughts of Washington or place suggestions for future chapters on Washington (history, facts, etc.)