It can be hard to find the right words to convey the experience of 2021 – another year largely shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic that was full of peaks, valleys and just the day-to-day stresses of the unknown. Things we’d hoped would be normal again by now are still challenging.&nbsp;

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But even within that, there were – and are – still so many beautiful moments when we truly see the humanity of the world and what happens when we come together.

Around the world, our partners (employees) once again stepped up for each other, their communities and their customers. They gave back, brought joy and worked hard, knowing that comfort can sometimes be found in a cup and that the ritual of a trip to Starbucks can provide even a little bit of normalcy in a world that can be so unpredictable.

For Starbucks, 2021 also marked our 50th anniversary. From our beginning back in 1971 as a small coffee, tea and spice shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market to today, we are looking forward to our next 50 – bringing people together over coffee, and helping create a better future for our planet and everyone on it.&nbsp;

While it can be hard to find the words to hold all that, sometimes photos can, so today we’re looking back at some of our favorite images from 2021. Reminding us of the powerful moments we have been able to share. And most importantly, inspiring all of us to keep going forward with hope and optimism for what is yet to come.

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Our stores are in neighborhoods and towns around the world and our partners represent, support and celebrate those communities. We span a beautiful spectrum, and we honor our diversity. From <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/aapi-heritage-month/">Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month</a> to <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/pride-heritage-month/">Pride Month</a>, <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2021/black-history-month-starbucks-partners-share-what-inspires-them-to-keep-going/">Black History Month</a>, <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2021/starbucks-celebrates-latinx-heritage-month/">Latinx Heritage Month</a>, <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2021/in-disability-pride-month-starbucks-partners-share-their-stories-and-how-others-can-be-better-allies/">Disability Pride Month</a>, <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2021/celebrating-american-indian-and-alaska-native-heritage-month/">American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month</a> and more, we featured partners and their stories of identity, culture and tradition.

Visit our <a href="https://www.instagram.com/starbucks.stories/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Instagram</a> to see more stories from our Heritage Month series.

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50th anniversary

In 1971, a small coffee, tea and spice shop opened near Seattle’s Pike Place Market with a name out of Moby Dick and an alluring siren as a logo.

In 2021, while we celebrated our 50th anniversary, it was a great time to unbox some of the historic and <a href="https://archive.starbucks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">archival items</a> that had been gathered and stored at Starbucks headquarters in Seattle – spanning the history of the company.

We found original menus, bags of coffee and tea, our first-ever holiday cup, tokens for free coffee and even unopened bottles of <a href="https://archive.starbucks.com/record/mazagran" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mazagran</a> – a carbonated coffee beverage launched in 1994 that lasted only a brief time but developed a dedicated following.

Store dedicated to the Navajo Nation

Like so many across the world, the Navajo Nation was ravaged by the pandemic. In the early days of COVID-19, Starbucks store manager <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/coming-home-store-manager-brings-covid-19-supplies-to-navajo-nation/">Ty Barbone worked to make sure essential supplies were reaching people in his community</a>. But Barbone wasn’t done. He&nbsp; reached out to Starbucks leadership and became the spark behind the new Indigenous Partner Network – one of 12 partner-led networks across the U.S.

Barbone’s store on the edge of the Navajo Nation in Gallup, New Mexico was remodeled and reopened as Starbucks 22nd Community Store, dedicated to the Navajo Nation and indigenous people.&nbsp;Each Community Store hires local partners, works with local artists and contractors, and teams up with nonprofits, with the goal of becoming a hub of community activity.

In November the store was dedicated in a community ceremony, with dancers from nearby Zuni Pueblo performing a traditional Deer Dance to honor the new gathering space. A hand painted mural by Navajo artist Daniel Josley is a centerpiece of the store, celebrating his heritage.

Stepping up, helping out

Even in the midst of the pandemic, Starbucks partners didn’t sit idly by in 2021. As always, they were getting involved in community efforts around the globe. We continued our work with Feeding America® to address the growing need for food assistance, and partners gave their time in food banks to <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2021/starbucks-grants-support-equitable-access-to-food/">to help get food to those in need</a>. They also volunteered in homeless shelters and with many other organizations that offer help to those in need.

With grants from The Starbucks Foundation, <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/asia/stories/2021/starbucks-celebrates-world-water-day/">our partners worked to bring clean, safe drinking water</a> and handwashing stations to communities in Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Expanding support for farmers and the planet

Coffee farmer Walquíria Peixoto Correa holds the coffee she saved for her own family after the conclusion of harvest on her family farm in Guaranésia, Brazil.

In 2021, <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2021/starbucks-opens-farmer-support-center-in-brazil-for-coffee-growing/">Starbucks opened our first farmer support center in Brazil,</a> our 10th globally, offering resources to farmers like Walquíria. Located in Varginha, Minas Gerais state, the new Farmer Support Center provides open-source agronomy and training on ethical sourcing practices to farmers, regardless of whether or not they sell to Starbucks.

A coffee farming community in the hills near Turrialba, Costa Rica. Costa Rica is home to Hacienda Alsacia, the only Starbucks-owned farm in the world.

The heartbeat of Starbucks

Our partners are truly the heartbeat of Starbucks. Even during this pandemic, they bring joy, care and connection to our customers and each other every day.

In 2021, we were able to feature some of our partners and their real-life stories in everything from <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2021/meet-gigi-barista-musician-and-star-of-starbucks-new-tv-spot/">ads celebrating our 50th anniversary</a> to storytelling about what these amazing humans are able to accomplish, including those who work hard to earn their bachelor’s degree through the Starbucks College Achievement Plan.

As always, we are in love with coffee, including the way it comes to life in our cups.

A looping GIF shows milk cascading through a cup of Starbucks Cold Brew, photographed with a macro lens.

Working with local artists

Through the Starbucks Art Program, we have the privilege of working with talented local artists to create original pieces for our stores and offices around the world. In 2021, the team worked with many artists including longtime contributors Jen Ament and Marisol Ortega, here working on new pieces in their studios.

Using our skills to help speed vaccine delivery

Starbucks partners tested out the flow of mock vaccine stations, including pretending to deliver vaccines, at the company’s Tryer Center.&nbsp;

Starbucks serves 100 million customers a week in 30,000 stores around the world. You could say we have lots of experience moving people through spaces.

In January <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2021/offering-to-serve-starbucks-joins-effort-to-help-speed-covid-19-vaccination-delivery/">Starbucks teamed up with the State of Washington</a> and other companies to help find efficient ways to move people through COVID-19 vaccination sites. Mock stations were set up in the Tryer innovation lab in our Seattle headquarters, and tests were conducted on how to move people through the vaccination process. The information was shared with the Washington State Vaccine Command and Coordination Center and implemented at early mass-vaccination sites in Washington State.

Taking flight for the holidays

In early December, Starbucks teamed up with longtime partner, Alaska Airlines, to offer a unique BOGO flight deal. On Dec. 7, a custom-painted Alaska plane decorated with Starbucks holiday cups lifted off from Seattle Tacoma International Airport en route to Chicago. A large prop cup, part of a photoshoot, seemed to walk past the airplane on the tarmac before takeoff.

As the curtains close on 2021, one thing is clear: The year was made so much better because of the people. Our partners and the wonderful customers that visit our stores all coming together to lift humanity and leave us all inspired. As we’ve always known, it truly is about so much more than coffee.

We're looking back at 2021 with images that remind us of the powerful and uplifting moments we have been able to share amidst another year of upheaval.

Starbucks 2021: The year in pictures

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It was a year like no other.

It was a year we had little choice but to dig deep into our reserves of resilience, patience and kindness, even as COVID-19 turned the world and each of our lives upside down, sparing no one from change and uncertainty. It was a year that underscored the importance of standing up, marching and speaking out against racial inequality. 

From climate change to elections and hunger to mental health, it can be hard to feel optimistic after a year spent facing down so many personal and collective challenges.

But here’s what gives us hope: You. It seems the human spirit shines the brightest in times of difficulty. For evidence of this, we have to look no further than Starbucks partners and customers around the world and their acts of courage, creativity and joy.

As 2020 comes to a close, we’d like to share a look at some of this year’s milestones as well as what we’re looking forward to in 2021.

This year, we learned eyes can smile. Behind those masks were our baristas, ready to help make people’s day just a little better.

Troy James, a Starbucks licensed store district manager in New Orleans recognized a need in his community. He knew that many people had lost their service-industry jobs due to the effects of COVID-19 and families were struggling to have enough to eat. James pulled together the connections he had: relationships with Target, which operate licensed Starbucks stores; <a href="http://www.libertyskitchen.org/">Liberty’s Kitchen</a>, a nonprofit mentorship program for youth which James has been volunteering with for more than a decade; and the Starbucks Black Partner Network, which challenged itself to find solutions during civil unrest over the summer.

He reached out to <a href="https://no-hunger.org/">Second Harvest Food Bank</a> of New Orleans, a Starbucks mobile food pantry grant recipient, which he’d worked with before, and the Metropolitan Human Services District, which pledged to show up with healthcare resources.

The result was a <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/food-banks-starbucks-rethink-solutions-to-address-root-causes-of-hunger/">resource distribution event</a> at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church on a rainy summer morning volunteers, including New Orleans councilwoman Cyndi Nguyen, passed out 1,600 boxes of food, each designed to feed a family of four for two weeks, 800 COVID-19 sanitizing kits and 400 back-to-school kits in a backpack. Liberty’s Kitchen bought the school supplies with a $7,500 Target community grant.

In January of 2020, Starbucks announced a<a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-announces-multi-decade-aspiration-to-become-resource-positive/"> multi-decade aspiration to become resource positive</a>. It’s a time when coffee is at a bit of a crossroads.&nbsp;There are more coffee drinkers in the world than ever before, but each year, climate change, disease and diminishing natural resources can make the business of coffee farming more and more difficult.

Starbucks coffee farm in Costa Rica, purchased in 2013 <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/this-earth-day-meet-some-of-the-people-working-to-make-coffee-sustainable">to help the company better understand these challenges</a>, has become a global hub of research and discovery. In 2020, Starbucks announced progress with refined agronomy practices and use of old-world tree breeding techniques that can drastically increase yield of coffee farms, bringing more economic security to farmers and the communities where they live.

Inclusive Starbucks stores around the world

Starbucks expanded its dedication to inclusive stores that serve local communities around the world. In India, Tata Starbucks opened two stores<a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/asia/stories/2020/women-lead-the-way-tata-starbucks-opens-two-all-women-stores-in-india/"> operated entirely by women.</a> The stores reaffirm Tata Starbucks ongoing commitment to promoting an inclusive and diverse workforce by empowering women leaders

In South Korea, Starbucks opened a <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/asia/stories/2020/starbucks-opens-store-focused-on-inclusive-design-in-south-korea/">first-of-its-kind store focused on inclusive design</a>. The store was designed to expand career opportunities for Starbucks partners with disabilities. Half of the staff are partners with disabilities and hold positions at nearly every level. Partners all receive customized training and development, including basic expressions in Korean Sign Language. Starbucks also opened a new <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/asia/stories/2020/starbucks-first-signing-store-in-japan/">signing store in Japan in June</a> and another in <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/asia/stories/2020/new-beijing-signing-store-shares-love-for-coffee-and-connection/">Beijing in September</a>; the company now has six signing stores around the world where all the partners are fluent in sign language.

The Starbucks Support Center is dark except for the clock tower as the pandemic worsened in the Seattle area in March. Starbucks is reimagining the corporate headquarters during the time that many partners are away from the building and working from home.

It’s not just about coffee, it’s about people. It’s about nurturing the human spirit. In uncertain times, Starbucks partners and customers around the globe exercised daily acts of resilience, kindness, courage, creativity and joy and making <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/good-things-are-happening/">good things happen</a>.

Starbucks partners recognized need in their communities in 2020 and stepped in to help, doing everything from sewing masks to working at food banks. Visiting longtime regular customers, and providing coffee to front-line responders.

In 2020 Starbucks partner Ain Powell <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/for-some-starbucks-partners-this-juneteenth-represents-hope-change/">raised the Juneteenth flag</a> over the corporate headquarters to recognize the holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States — amid massive social unrest and demands across the country for <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/milestones-starbucks-efforts-to-support-racial-justice-and-equity/">change and justice</a>.

That same month a silent protest in Seattle drew many Starbucks partners in one of the largest protest marches Seattle has seen in decades.

“What a time it is to be alive,” Powell said the week of the flag raising. “What a time it is to put all of my learning that I’ve grown up with, all the knowledge that my parents and my grandparents have told me about. Not just my culture and to be proud of my past, but to understand what it took for us to get here, and to understand that we have a long way to go."

As people sheltered in place at the beginning of the pandemic, Starbucks stores closed. They were reopened after new safety measures were implemented and partners went through training. The company embraced the mantra of “monitor and adapt” as situations changed in local communities and Starbucks worked to responsibly re-open stores after the closures.

At the time, Kevin Johnson, Starbucks chief operating officer, <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/starbucks-ceo-the-third-place-needed-now-more-than-ever-before/">wrote</a>, “These adaptations will reinforce the concept of the third place — a warm and welcoming place, outside of our homes and our workspaces, where we connect and build community. We think of the third place as a mindset — a feeling of comfort that uplifts customers everywhere, and in every way, they experience Starbucks. And the third place has never been more relevant than now, as communities seek to reconnect and heal.”

After announcing that Starbucks would give a <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-gives-1million-cups-of-free-coffee-to-first-responders-in-us-and-canada/">free tall coffee</a> to front-line responders, Kevin Johnson, chief executive officer, delivered coffee to an ambulance crew that pulled up to the store in Seattle’s Sodo neighborhood.&nbsp;

Johnson also visited the Starbucks Roasting Plant in Kent, Washington where new safety measures were put in place because of the pandemic.&nbsp;

Starbucks <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-to-accelerate-expansion-of-drive-thru-pickup-and-curbside-pickup/" data-type="URL" data-id="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-to-accelerate-expansion-of-drive-thru-pickup-and-curbside-pickup/">accelerated the transformation</a> of stores with the expansion of formats such as Drive-Thru, Starbucks Pickup and curbside pickup at some stores as a response to the shift in the market during COVID-19 and to meet evolving customer needs.

In the midst of COVID-19, which has disproportionately impacted people of color, a racial justice movement and a struggling economy, nonprofits were stretched to meet the need. In response, The Starbucks Foundation awarded Neighborhood Grants to <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/the-starbucks-foundation-awards-neighborhood-grants-to-advance-racial-equity/">more than 400 nonprofit organizations</a> in the U.S. and Canada. Recipients of the awards, which totaled $1.5 million, were nominated by Starbucks partners, with priority given to <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/three-black-led-nonprofits-respond-to-unprecedented-times/">Black-led grassroots nonprofits</a> that serve Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities, including You Grow Girl! in Seattle.

In the end, at the core, Starbucks is about bringing people together – and that all centers around coffee and connection.

Throughout the year Starbucks Stories <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/meet-samantha-haviser-iddings-who-sees-ambiguity-as-a-strength/">introduced you to partners</a>, including people like Samantha Haviser-Iddings, a senior project manager in store development and a leader with the Starbucks Black Partner Network.

Holiday season at Starbucks is a festive time. And our <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/holiday-season-at-starbucks/">holiday cups</a> are always a sign that the season of cheer is here. In 2020 we introduced you to talented Starbucks designers Taylor Mattson, left, and Jamie Jones.

“We went through so many rounds of different cup designs, from minor tweaks to totally new ideas," said Jones. "We designed with ribbons, different variations on the orders of the ribbons and what colors we wanted to combine. We also cut out individual strips of paper and put them together to get a variety of options really fast. We love bouncing ideas off of each other and have similar taste design wise, so together it was the perfect match. I hope people are proud of the designs, we put a lot of love into them.”

Starbucks 2020: The year in pictures - Historias-en

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It was a year like no other. As 2020 comes to a close, we’d like to share a look at some of this year’s milestones as well as what we’re looking forward to in 2021.

https://historias.starbucks.com/en-es/stories/2020/starbucks-2020-the-year-in-pictures-3/

Starbucks 2020: The year in pictures

Starbucks 2020 – The year in pictures

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Coffee is at our heart, inspiring our craft and driving innovation—in our drinks, our food, our stores and new ways we bring the Starbucks experience to you wherever you are.

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Our vision for the future is to become resource positive—giving back more than we take from the planet. And we know we can’t do it alone. It takes all of us.

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Our aspiration is to be people positive—investing in humanity and the well-being of everyone we connect with, from our partners to coffee farmers to the customers in our stores and beyond.