Several posts ago, we brought up the issue of free trade coffee and the position of Starbucks on this issue. Someone at My Starbucks Idea found our post and commented with several links detailing Starbucks’ progress in the fair trade arena. According to a post written by Dub Hay, the Starbucks VP of Coffee and Global Procurement, the chain has been listening to their customers’ demand for fair trade coffee, and is doubling their amount of free trade coffee purchased in 2009. At 40 million pounds, this move will make Starbucks the largest buyer of Fair Trade coffee worldwide. Although I am skeptical that the above is merely a result of the sheer volume of coffee Starbucks purchases, it nevertheless means that 65% of their coffee is currently “ethically sourced”. They also are pledging that all of their coffee will be “ethically sourced” by 2015 (does ethically sourced mean fair trade? Does it mean anything? Sorry to be skeptical, sometimes these labels are just thrown around and are meaningless). I must say that this is clearly a step in the right direction for Starbucks. And as a tried and true Starbucks addict, I am relieved to have some ammunition to continue to defend the chain from attacks. Additionally, here is an outline of Starbucks environmental and ethical goals.
While we’re on the topic of Starbucks, I thought I’d address the rumors that Starbucks is financially funding the Israeli military. I found these allegations obviously unsubstantial and kinda ridiculous, and from the statement on the Starbucks website it seems they found them the same. Nevertheless, conspiracy theories do exist. Apparently a Starbucks near the Israeli embassy in London was trashed, which is just sad and unnecessary. But I don’t want to get too much into this conflict because it’s not a topic for a coffee blog!
Alright, enough about Starbucks for awhile!