MARYSVILLE — No matter how early she comes in, the mystery woman is always smiling when she orders her iced tea at the Starbucks in north Marysville.

A few times, she’s paid for the next person in line, hoping they would do the same.

“She’ll come back in and say, ‘Did it keep going?’” said Michele Case, assistant manager at the coffee shop.

She did it this week, and boy, did it keep going.

By Thursday afternoon, a chain of more than 813 customers had bought drinks for the next person in line at the Starbucks on 116th Street NE. The woman started the chain when she bought her regular iced tea Wednesday morning.

Employees at the coffee shop know her by drink and by face, and now they want to know her by name, too. Next time they see her, they plan on posing for a picture with her to put up on their shop’s bulletin board.

“She always comes in with a great, positive attitude,” Starbucks shift manager Sarah Nix said. “She says, ‘How are you girls doing today?’ She’s always in a really good mood, and she’s a great person to see early in the morning.”

Many customers have given donations of $10, $15 and $20 dollars when buying drinks for people behind them. Extra money that’s not used to buy coffee will be donated to Starbucks’ ongoing toy drive, Nix said.

Around the nation, other stories have surfaced of people paying it forward at Starbucks drive-through windows. Some cynical bloggers and others posting online question whether these apparent acts of good will are actually being orchestrated by the coffee chain.

Workers at the Starbucks in Marysville say this is the real deal.

“We’re just so thrilled and proud to be part of this in our community, and it’s cool to see how one act of kindness can grow so big,” Case said.

Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.