STARBUCKS ETHICAL SOURCING

For us to purchase coffee, it must pass our quality team’s high standards through a cupping (tasting) process. The higher the quality, the higher the price paid to the farmer. 

People often think a small army is behind the taste of Starbucks® coffee, but it is actually fewer than 20 people who taste more than 250,000 cups of coffee each year to ensure the quality of the coffee we purchase.

Starting in 1998, Starbucks changed the industry by implementing thorough economic transparency. 

Our suppliers (farmers, producers, exporters) are required to submit evidence of payments made from green coffee throughout the supply chain, including how much was paid directly to farmers for their coffee.

Social responsibility is all about people. When the rights and well-being of workers and their families are protected, benefits ripple to the coffee community throughout the supply chain, and we move toward a better future for the people who grow our coffee and for coffee itself. 

Social responsibility also includes providing habitable living conditions and investing in things like housing, wells for water, access to education and medical care. We are continuously partnering with producers to improve working and living conditions. 

When coffee producers take steps to protect the ecosystems they live in, they ensure that the land will be healthy enough to support farming (and the livelihoods of everyone involved—including you) for years to come. 

With growing and processing coffee, environmental measures must be in place for managing waste, protecting water quality, conserving water and energy, preserving biodiversity and reducing agrochemical use.