Don't buy preground coffee.

I was taken by the power that savoring a simple cup of coffee can have to connect people and create community.

Starbucks is rekindling America's love affair with coffee, bringing romance and fresh flavor back to the brew.

While we are a coffee company at heart, Starbucks provides much more than the best cup of coffee—we offer a community gathering place where people come together to connect and discover new things.

The point of entry for the Starbucks experience has been much more a social experience (in China) rather than competition between coffee and tea,

When I first discovered in the early 1980s the Italian espresso bars in my trip to Italy, the vision was to re-create that for America - a third place that had not existed before. Starbucks re-created that in America in our own image; a place to go other than home or work. We also created an industry that did not exist: specialty coffee.

We would take something old and tired and common - coffee - and weave a sense of romance and community around it. We would rediscover the mystique and charm that had swirled around coffee throughout the centuries.

We are not in the coffee business serving people, we are in the people business serving coffee.

I probably have about four or five cups of coffee a day. I make myself an espresso macchiato when I wake, which is a shot of espresso and just a dollop of steamed milk. Then, if I'm going to do some work at home, I would make myself a French press. It's the best way to make conventional coffee.