The store was quickly repaired, and the protesters scattered to other cities. Yet cup by cup, Starbucks really is caffeinating the world, its green-and-white emblem beckoning to consumers on three continents. In 1999, Starbucks Corp. had 281 stores abroad. Today, it has about 5,500—and it’s still in the early stages of a plan to colonize the globe. If the protesters were wrong in their tactics, they weren’t wrong about Starbucks’ ambitions. They were just early.