starbucks challenge update

Green LA Girl, leader of the U.S. troops in the Starbucks challenge, has posted an interesting update.  While the final tally of results are not in, she reports that,

"From the reports we've gotten so far from challengers, it's very, VERY clear that many baristas are trained not to make fair trade coffee until specifically asked for a French-pressed cup ... . The question now is whether this practice is one mandated by the official training programs (manuals, etc.), or one that's being more informally instituted by individual managers..."

Her post goes into some detail about her conversation with a representative from Starbucks' Corporate Social Responsibility department, who promised to look into uneven availability of fair trade coffee at Starbucks 7,300 North American stores and who LA Girl seemed to think was sincere.  But LA Girl made a great point:

"According to them, 'Starbucks and the Fair Trade movement share common goals' (PDF here), but in actual practice ... why is it that so few customers even know fair trade coffee is available on request, and why is it that -- even for the people who do -- we still have to jump through hoops to get one lousy cup of socio-responsible coffee?"

Part of the hoop-jumping involves waiting 10 minutes for a french-pressed cup, maybe longer if the baristas have to wait on other people (who, if caffeine-stressed at 6 AM, might get a little testy with you). I truly hope this does not act as a deterrant -- if enough people continue to ask for Fair Trade coffee, especially if it's a hassle for them to brew a cup at a time, Starbucks could be convinced to have it available brewed every day.  And as I explained, I really believe that coffee consumers can make a make a difference in the world by choosing a "just cup". 

Comments

[Kathleen]

Great to have found a blogging field ecologist!

StayAtHomeKat

can be found at Blogspot

[Wisecrow]

I just published a photo of shade-grown coffee taken last week in Veracruz. First time I've seen it in the wild.