Green Coffee

While it strives to maintain high standards for the coffee beans it imports from around the globe, Starbucks also is exporting a commitment to sustainability.

That effort is reflected in its nurturing of long-term relationships with coffee farmers and suppliers, a pricing model that rewards higher quality with higher prices, clearly defined Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices (C.A.F.E.) and support for coffee farms and their surrounding communities in 25 countries.

These relationships cultivated with farmers, suppliers and exporters reflect Starbucks’ deep understanding that long-term, mutually-beneficial commitments are critical to maintaining the highest standards for its core product.

That formula includes paying for quality. One example of the typical price breakdown for the company’s top three coffee origins shows the price per pound to be $1.37 in 2007. Of that amount, $1.32 was paid to the farmers; five cents was paid to the exporter.

Ten years ago, Starbucks began building a strong coffee sustainability model by integrating conservation principles in its best-buying practices and its work with Conservation International (CI). Three years later, that collaboration led to a pilot program, the Starbucks Preferred Supplier Program (PSP), which was based on socially- and environmentally-responsible coffee-buying guidelines. It was these early efforts that eventually evolved into the C.A.F.E. Practices.

Introduced in 2004, C.A.F.E. Practices guidelines encompass ambitious goals intended to ensure that high-quality coffee would be grown and processed in a manner that was both socially and environmentally responsible. They also were designed to include all types of suppliers, from the small family farms to large estates. In addition to those overarching goals, C.A.F.E. guidelines required an emphasis on product quality, economic accountability, social responsibility and environment leadership.

Product quality standards are clearly defined by Starbucks in its Green Coffee Quality Manual, and all coffee purchased from C.A.F.E. Practices suppliers is required to meet those standards.

Workers’ rights, fair pay
Economic accountability means suppliers must prove they are making the appropriate payments at all levels along the coffee supply chain. These suppliers and others within their supply chain must ensure that their workers’ rights are protected with safe, fair and humane working conditions, that appropriate wages are paid, and that they also address any suspected cases of child labor, forced labor or discrimination.

Finally, in its environmental leadership, Starbucks requires its C.A.F.E. Practices suppliers to ensure that waste is managed, water quality is protected, energy and water are conserved, biodiversity is preserved and agrochemical use is reduced in the growing and processing of coffee.

In 2007, Starbucks was able to report that the majority of its coffee came from approved C.A.F.E. Practices suppliers; it also purchases third-party coffees grown and produced with standards that reflect sensitivity to economic sustainability and environmental preservation. Two examples of these third-party certified sources are the Fair Trade Certified and certified organic coffees. Starbucks continues to be the largest purchaser, roaster and distributor of Fair Trade Certified coffee in North America, and is among the largest purchasers globally.

Kenya Heartland Project
Some specific initiatives by Starbucks in Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific illustrate how relatively small steps can pay dividends to the company and its suppliers in the form of high-quality, sustainable coffees.

A case in point is the Kenya Heartland Coffee Project, launched by Starbucks and the African Wildlife Foundation in 2005. The three-year project is intended to help farmers improve the quality and quantity of Kenyan coffee by introducing best practices in growing and processing, while also supporting wildlife and biodiversity conservation goals.

Starbucks’ Black Apron Exclusives program was created to recognize some of the world’s unique and finest coffees, which are often discovered in small, remote areas. When a coffee is accepted as a Black Apron Exclusive, Starbucks awards $15,000 to the community to help improve the sustainability of its farms, the village and the local environment. To date, this program has featured 15 distinct coffees, including four that were introduced during 2007.