May 5, 2007
Ethiopian Coffee and Starbucks
Starbucks went toe to toe with Ethiopia and the coffee behemoth lost. In the ever advancing world of provenance establishment and disclosure of our of our food and beverage sources, the African nation was seeking to trademark some of its coffee growing regions for the purpose of increasing value in the world markets. Starbucks on the other hand has no interest in seeing anything that would drive the price of a venti any closer to the $5 mark any sooner than necessary – licensing these new trademarked coffee names is not in their, or their stock prices', interest. Corporate bullying ensues over the last few months, customer blowback follows, and then Wall Street gets antsy as a protest is not good for sales.
Low and behold - from the Wall Street Journal (reg. req.):
After two days of discussions in Seattle this week, the two sides said they have agreed in principle to sign a licensing, distribution and marketing agreement. Starbucks officials declined to say what the agreement entails, or why they've now moved closer to signing it. "We've always been very bullish on our business with Ethiopia," Starbucks Chief Executive Jim Donald said in an interview. "This is just another great step."
Backpedal in full effect.
If you want to see what the fuss is about, go sample Ethiopian coffee at the new (old) Tasting Room Wine Bar and Cafe on First Street in the East Village to see what all the fuss is about. They are now open 7am-Midnight M-F and 9am-Midnight Sat-Sun. Pretty tasty stuff.
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this is good news. neoliberal economic policies succeed in driving down anyone but conglomerates and corporations, this is just a push back in the direction of the independent seller.
oh, also: "If you want to see what the fuss is about, go sample Ethiopian coffee at the new (old) Tasting Room Wine Bar and Cafe on First Street in the East Village to see what all the fuss is about."
??
If you need to brand your product it probably isn't that much better than anything else - at least to the average consumer.
There is an organization called Justice from Bean to Cup that recently made a video about Starbucks and it's relationship with its Ethiopian coffee farmers.
It's in 2 parts on YouTube, just search for "Partner? Starbucks."
Guess this means Starbucks' markup on its coffee will be only 975% instead of 1,000%,
what are you talking about? how is the government of ethiopia not just another 'conglomerate'? you think anyone but a bunch of fat cats are going to receive the proceeds from this licensing agreement?
it's "lo and behold", not "low and behold"
oh my god.. coffee is coffee, just buy it from the guy in the cart for a buck
Guess this means Starbucks' markup on its coffee will be only 975% instead of 1,000%,
The "markup" on coffee has to cover the cost of real estate, utilities, salaries, and other variables like milk. I'm not trying to make a case for Starbucks but the idea that farmers would reap most of the benefits from a highly processed item like coffee is naive at best.
It's a pity you all don't understand more about the coffee business, of which NYC is a major center.
This deal -- as much as we know about it -- seems set to benefit Starbucks itself and the corrupt Ethiopian middlemen and coffee brokers.
It will probably do almost zero for impoverished coffee farmers or American consumers.
Jeeeeze...Starbucks is not the devil and isn't forcing you to drink there. I remember a NYC without a single starbucks, and some of the "indie" coffee was liquid crap. I'd rather have a coffeeshop than another "darling" boutique for richies added to the mall that NYC has become.
Again - if you don't like it, don't order it. They aren't perfect but are fairly responsible for a small company that grew large. Hating them for the heck of it is as stupid as those who want to unionize Starbucks - who has always paid well over minimum wage.
I am so sick of this argument. Brew your own and shut up.
There's a pretty good documentary on one of the Ethiopian coffee cooperatives called Black Gold that came out maybe 9 months ago. I think there's a link to the film on Brownstone Beans's website www.brownstonebeans.com
The company is also a small "artisanal" coffee roaster that makes a point of carrying Fair Trade coffee and they have great Ethiopian!