舌尖上的航海丨第19集 海上“星巴克”

彝臻来自中国内地一个贫苦的牧民家庭，航海学校毕业后不久，来到这艘外籍远洋货船做水手。

彝臻喜欢喝咖啡是从登上“星巴克”号开始的。

“星巴克”号货轮是由世界著名咖啡店“星巴克”命名的，船舱的餐厅里，一把硕大的咖啡壶，敞开免费供应。咖啡壶上贴有一张“星巴克”创始人舒尔茨的照片。

据说，“星巴克”号船东与舒尔茨都是美籍犹太人。

彝臻心想：这里面一定有玄机和奥妙。

一天，刚上船不久的彝臻去问水手长汤姆。汤姆是正宗的美国人，汤姆告诉他，过些日子“星巴克”回美国修船，到时一切都会“大白于天下”。

“星巴克”号靠上西雅图“老人与海”船厂坞修，正值“星巴克”号下水十周年。

“星巴克”下水十周年庆祝活动热闹非凡；船东的亲朋好友，航运界的精英大腕，云集船上，其中一位胖胖的鬓发斑白的老人引起彝臻的注意；这与咖啡壶上的照片同出一辙。人们告诉他：“星巴克”创始人舒尔茨。

船东巴沙尔是位中年汉子，热情地将舒尔茨迎进船上贵宾室。

水手长汤姆给彝臻讲诉了船东巴沙尔与舒尔茨间，一段感人的故事。

二战期间，巴沙尔全家为躲避法西斯的屠杀，漂洋过海亡命美国。贫病交加的父母先后离世，孤苦伶仃的巴沙尔终日流浪街头。

一天黄昏，饥肠辘辘的巴沙尔昏倒在一家咖啡厅前。待他醒来，已经躺在咖啡厅的沙发椅上，桌上一杯热气腾腾散发着芬香的咖啡，使巴沙尔热泪盈眶。

听完巴沙尔的遭遇，店主破例留下了巴沙尔，成了咖啡店的一名员工。

出身贫苦的巴沙尔生活有了保障。悲惨的身世使巴沙尔对未来失去了信心，终日无精打采闷闷不乐，

一天，心不在焉的巴沙尔打碎了盛满咖啡的杯子，还弄脏了客人的衣物。

客人听完巴沙尔的身世，没有责怪他并把他带到贫民区一座破旧的老房子面前，讲了一个老房子主人的故事。

大约四十多年前的圣诞节，家家灯火璀璨，美食飘香。

房子里一个十二岁的小男孩和二个弟弟饿的肚子咕咕叫。

因车祸失去工作的父亲，没有了经济来源。整天以酒消愁。

挨打受骂是兄弟三人的家常便饭，母亲一时借不到钱，只好把三个孩子全都赶到街上玩耍。

圣诞节促销商品琳琅满目。一罐包装精美的咖啡使十二岁的小男孩萌发了异想，让多天未沾咖啡的父亲开心一下。趁店主不注意。小男孩快速将咖啡罐塞到衣袋里，不巧被店主看到了。

小男孩撒腿就跑，自以为甩掉了店主。

回到家里急忙打开咖啡罐，香浓的气息飘逸而出，父亲十分开心。然而，父亲还未来得及品尝，店主赶到了。

小男孩遭到父亲一顿毒打。

刻骨铭心的圣诞之夜，使这个十二岁的小男孩终生难忘。

后来，小男孩长大成人，进入了北密歇根大学。一边打工，一边读书。

艰苦环境使他不断成长。大学毕业后，从一个普通的销售员做起，直到晋升为一家公司的总裁。

就任总裁的当天，父亲打电话想要见他，由于忙与一位客户谈判，没有时间回家，几天后，父亲去世了。

在整理父亲遗物时，他发现了一个锈迹斑斑的咖啡罐，正是当年那个偷来的咖啡罐！

盖子上面留有父亲的笔迹：儿子送的礼物。1964年圣诞节，罐子里还有一封信：

“亲爱的儿子，作为一位父亲，我很失败，没能给你提供优越的生活环境。但是我也有梦想。我的最大梦想，就是拥有一间咖啡屋。悠闲的时候为你们研磨咖啡，这个愿望无法实现了。我希望儿子能拥有这样的幸福。”

读完这封信，他感慨万分；昔日的打骂成了珍贵的记忆，苦难成了奋斗的动力；“既然父亲的愿望是开间咖啡馆，我替他实现这个愿望吧！”

最终，他辞去公司总裁的职务，专心留意与咖啡馆有关的信息。两年后凑足了资金，买下了一家销售咖啡豆的公司。

当巴沙尔最后得知，那家公司就是闻名于世的“星巴克”，眼前的这位客人就是当年的小男孩，如今“星巴克”的创始人舒尔茨时，眼里噙着泪花，握住对方的手不肯放开。

巴沙尔终于从悲观的阴影里走出来的。经过多年的拼搏，终于有了自己的轮船公司。为了纪念那段难忘的经历，感谢舒尔茨对他的教诲，首艘下水的船，特地命名为“星巴克”。

彝臻终于找到了答案，受到一次励志的教育，也喜欢了喝咖啡。

as a shepherd on his family’s farm. When he was young, he dreamed of one day going out to

sea and becoming a sailor.

He worked hard to get into nautical school and graduated with honors. Soon after, he got

hired as a shiphand on a foreign steamship named SS Starbucks.

Ever since he boarded SS Starbucks, Yi Zhen had fallen in love with coffee.

SS Starbucks was a steam-powered cargo ship named after the famous coffee chain,

Starbucks. Every morning, the captain of the steamship brewed a pot of coffee and kept it in

the break room for any shiphand and sailor to indulge in for free, and each crew member took

turns refilling and cleaning the pot. Next to it sat a graying photograph of the founder of

Starbucks, Howard Schultz.

Yi Zhen found it strange how their cargo liner had so many allusions to a coffee

company. Perhaps, he wondered, was there some relation between the ship’s captain and

Howard Schultz?

Yi Zhen sought the advice of a friend of his, a fellow shiphand named Thomas. Thomas

had worked onboard SS Starbucks for many years, and told Yi Zhen that his confusion will

soon be cleared as SS Starbucks returns to the United States for restocking and repairs.

SS Starbucks docked at the Port of Seattle and awaited its renewal at the Ballard

Shipyard, while also celebrating its seventy-year anniversary. The celebrations were festive

and lively; friends and relatives of the shipowner and businessmen and managers from the

shipping company gathered onboard the deck of SS Starbucks. Among them, one person in

particular caught Yi Zhen’s eye - a chubby man with graying hair wearing a black suit walked

along the deck, speaking to friends and occasionally looking over the horizon. He looked

exactly like the photograph that was displayed in SS Starbucks’ break room.

His fellow shiphands whispered to Yi Zhen, that it was none other than the founder of

Starbucks, Howard Schultz.

Yi Zhen and Thomas watched as Captain Becher of SS Starbucks warmly welcomed

Schultz into the executive lounge. As they disappeared, Thomas began to explain how Becher

and Schultz knew one another.

During the Second World War, Becher and his family escaped the rise of the Nazi Party

in Germany by sea and travelled to the United States in search for refuge. But after arriving in

the Americas after a long and arduous voyage, both of Becher’s parents fell sick and passed

away, leaving Becher to roam the streets as an orphan.

One morning, a starving Becher fainted in front of a restaurant while looking for scraps

of food that people threw away. When he woke up, he found himself lying down on the sofa

inside the restaurant with a blanket softly covering him and a steaming cup of coffee and

biscuits prepared on the table. The owner of the coffee store stood behind the counter, smiled,

and nodded at Becher, letting him know that the food was for him.

Becher’s eyes filled up with tears. He told his tragic story to the store owner, who

insisted on making an exception to the café’s rules and hiring Becher to work in the shop.

Though Becher was given a new chance at life, his past constantly haunted him, causing

him to worry about his future. Slowly, Becher lost confidence, and became too sullen to

work, to the point of shattering a glass mug and spilling coffee on a customer’s shirt.

But the customer did not scold or berate Becher. Instead, he asked Becher why such a

young boy was working at a restaurant. After listening to Becher’s devastating past, the man

told Becher a different story.

Around forty years ago on Christmas day, when most houses were lit bright with candles

and stocked with all kinds of delicious dishes, one family was left hungry with no gifts or

light within their home. A twelve-year-old boy and his two younger brothers sat in front of

their window, praying for a Christmas miracle.

Their father recently got into a car accident that left him unable to work, and the

family’s only source of income was cut off. He turned to alcohol to drown his sorrows, and

continuously beat his sons, who became nothing but extra mouths to feed. The children’s

mother could not get hired for a job and had no luck in borrowing money from relatives, so

the three kids spent most of their days playing on the streets, away from the ceaseless anger

and emptiness that filled their home.

As the twelve-year-old boy roamed the streets, he noticed the Christmas sales and

discounts that were being advertised in every window display. The boy stopped in front of a

coffee store, set his gaze on the delicately packaged jar of coffee beans that filled its shelves,

and thought of how happy his father would be if he got to taste his beloved coffee again after

many weeks.

When the shopkeeper wasn’t paying attention, the boy sneaked into the coffee store,

grabbed the jar of coffee, slipped between the crowd of people, and bolted out of the front

door and through the streets back home.

He locked his house doors and thought that the shopkeeper had lost him. Quickly, he

opened the jar of coffee and showed it to his father, the heavy smells of the coffee beans

filling the cold air within their home. But before his father could even begin brewing the

beans into coffee, the shopkeeper knocked on the family’s door, and the harsh truth spilled off

of the boy’s reluctant tongue.

His father was instantly enraged and beat him until the clock struck midnight.

The boy cried himself to sleep that night. Not only was his plan to cheer up his father

ultimately a fluke, he also inadvertently ruined his entire family’s Christmas. No matter how

hard he tried, the boy couldn’t forget what had happened that night.

The boy worked hard his whole life to make a better future for his family, and was

eventually accepted to Northern Michigan University. He studied hard in school and worked

part time to make some extra money for his younger brothers. The difficult times that he and

his siblings went through became their driving force in creating a brighter future.

After the boy graduated, he was hired as an ordinary salesman at a large company, and

later climbed his way up until he was promoted to the President.

On the day he got his appointment as President, his father unexpectedly called him and

asked to meet him. But due to his busy schedule with clients and meetings, he told his father

to wait a couple of weeks.

Two days later, his father passed away.

The boy’s spirits sank as he sorted through the belongings his father left.

As he looked through the last box, he noticed a rusty coffee jar hidden beneath old

clothes and dusty books. He dug deep inside and retrieved the old jar. It was the very same

one he had stolen for his father all those years ago!

On the lid of the jar, his father had written in marker, “A Gift from My Son, Christmas

1964”. Slowly, the boy twisted open the jar and looked inside, and found a letter.

“Dear son,

As a father, I have failed to provide you with a loving home and environment. Not a

single day goes by when I don’t regret who I treated you and your brothers. But I, too, had a

dream of my own. I wished to one day own my own coffee shop and grind coffee for you and

your siblings, but I will never be able to achieve that fantasy of mine. I can only hope that

you can have the happiness that I couldn’t, and accomplish whatever you set out to do.”

The boy sat in his attic reading the letter, and felt tears streaming down his face. The

blurred memories of anger and pain cleared into signs of frustration from a father who loved

his children, but was helpless; the struggles they went through together as a family became

motivation for the brothers to succeed. The boy also felt a sense of regret stirring within his

heart. He was too young to understand and help his father when his father was weak and

disabled.

But he had since grown into a capable and successful man, and also had a deep love for

coffee.

The boy decided to achieve his father’s dreams for him, and to own the greatest coffee

shop in the world. He quit his job as president, and within two years, the boy had become the

president of Starbucks.

Becher learned that the boy was Howard Schultz, and he was the man sitting right in

front of him on that very day. Becher realized that Schultz had lifted himself out of adversity,

and despite his sufferings, became a man who set out to help others. From then on, Schultz

made sure to visit Becher every once in a while, and Becher was determined to escape the

shadows of his tormented childhood, and become a new man.

Instead of the grey outlook of life he was once, Becher followed the rose-colored final

memories he had of his parents - telling stories and depending on one another while afloat at

sea. After years of countless difficulties, he started his own shipping company and appointed

himself as the president and captain of one of their ships. To honor the man that helped him

get out of the toughest period of his life, Becher named the first ship he ever constructed SS

Starbucks after Schultz’s company.

Listening to the story, Yi Zhen grew insurmountable amounts of respect for both Becher

and Schultz. Everyday onwards, he had a glass of coffee in the break room and sat next to

Schultz’s photograph, admiring the two great men’s resilience.

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