Coffee and espionage

If you’re a fan of 007 then you may recall his love of a Vodka Martini shaken not stirred, but perhaps less so his love of coffee. Fans will recall how in Live and Let Die James Bond uses an extremely complicated contraption to make a single cup of coffee for his boss M.

Members of the American CIA have no such bother, as at their headquarters at Langley in Virginia there is a branch of Starbucks. It is often referred to as ‘Stealthy Starbucks’ or ‘Starbucks Number 1’. But it definitely isn’t a normal branch, nor are the staff typical types you’d find at run of the mill Starbucks. For one, they must undergo extensive background checks and they cannot leave their post without a CIA escort.

Employees and spooks alike have no as it makes the CIA customers uncomfortable. There are also no reward cards for drinking lots and lots of coffee, something we always suspect that spies would do.