Update, 1/24/06) Is it true that Starbucks drives out local, independent coffee shops?
Yes, yes. (Update, 1/24/06) I wrote/called Starbucks complaining about their meager fair trade options, and got a letter back saying all this stuff about how fair trade certified coffee makes up only 2-3% of the coffee out there. Is this true? Yes, it’s true that the amount of fair trade certified coffee out there’s limited. The reason? Big corps have chosen not to buy fair trade coffee, opting instead for easier, cheaper “conventional” methods of getting coffee — namely, buying it from middlemen who’ve bought the coffee dirt cheap by gouging farmers. Thus, lots of fair trade certified coffee ends up being sold at “conventional” (read: not profitable) coffee prices. Right now, there’s more fair trade certified coffee being produced than is being bought. If companies like Starbucks made a larger commitment to fair trade coffee, more fair trade coffee would be bought, and more fair trade coffee would then get certified. Starbucks’ excuse puts the blame on the certification system, when t
