Starbucks

[Ortega]

I've been reading the thread about Coca-Cola, and I was wondering, has Starbucks commited any crimes along those lines? I've heard rumors about Starbucks exploiting Colombians and all that... are any of them true?

I'm boycotting Coca-Cola too... not that thatll help anything...
we should really organize something - a protest or a mass boycott or anything that will get Coke's rich CEOs listening.

[Jesus Christ]

i dunno but they made one hell of a Caramel Macchiato

[provocateur]

I try not to eat or drink junk. I gave up soft drinks in 1994. I never drank coffee regularly. Only the guerrilla life attracts me. Be ascetic like El Che.

[Al Creed]

I dont touch the stuff. People die for those beans (Unless it's fair trade coffee)

As well, Coffee tastes putrid

[Hampton]

Starbucks sells Fair Trade coffee.


SEATTLE / OAKLAND, Calif.; April 10, 2000 — Starbucks Coffee Company (Nasdaq:SBUX) and TransFair USA have formed an innovative alliance in which Starbucks will market Fair Trade Certified coffee in over 2,000 retail locations across the United States and through the Starbucks.com website. Starbucks purchases of Fair Trade Certified coffee will be from certified importers who have paid the farmers a fair price (as defined by internationally accepted Fair Trade standards for coffee), which will be a premium over the prevailing market price.

Under the agreement, Starbucks will develop marketing, promotional and educational materials about Fair Trade Certified coffee and display TransFair USA's Fair Trade Certified label on coffee that has been grown, processed, traded and marketed in accordance with international Fair Trade criteria. Under the terms of the agreement, Starbucks will source, roast and sell Fair Trade coffee to meet growing consumer demand. After one year from the date the Fair Trade Certified coffee is introduced into the stores, Starbucks and TransFair will evaluate the success of the initiative and define ongoing collaboration based on consumer demand.

Lizink (http://www.coffeeresearch.org/politics/Starbucks%20Fairtrade.htm)

[Pete]

Although star bucks sells fairtrade I still prefer to get my coffee from elsewhere. Big business is bad business.

[EneME]

Yeah when I was going to Berkeley I went to a Starbucks to meet up with a study group and they had this huge sign that they sold Fair Trade cuz ppl in Berkeley are really aware of that. Coffee not made from Fair Trade was going to be legally banned from all coffee shops last year, but the measure didn't pass :( Anyway...I still don't buy the stuff...I hate Starbucks and the ppl that go there all posh posh make me sick... Plus their coffee sucks a fat one, and their Frap's have too much dairy bleh...try some Peet's!

[Iepilei]

They call it, "flavour roasting." I just say they burnt the damn beans.

I'm not a big fan of their coffee, as you might gather. I'm not a big fan of coffee, but when I do get such a urge I go to this local shop. One of the few remaining who hasn't suffered as a result of mass corporatism.

I'll enjoy it whilst I can. Before it gets pulled in the undertow.

[truthaddict11]

you have to roast the beans in order to bring out the flavor, id just buy a coffee maker and brew your own cafe coffee is so expensive

[blackemma]

Big business is bad business.

All business is bad business. Just because a company is small, doesn't mean it will treat its workers any better. If anything, only a company like Starbucks is going to have the rescources to purchase fair trade coffee. A small, locally-owned coffee shop is just as or perhaps even more likely to buy cheap coffee from mistreated workers.

All unwanted labour is exploitation. Boycotting accomplishes little or nothing unless it's the system you're boycotting. Like Debord said, we're all proletarian now.

[crazy comie]

starbucks only sells some fair trade coffe and it use is its market power to drive down prices of fair trade coffe.

[Felicia]

Originally posted by [email protected] 16 2003, 10:11 PM
I've been reading the thread about Coca-Cola, and I was wondering, has Starbucks commited any crimes along those lines? I've heard rumors about Starbucks exploiting Colombians and all that... are any of them true?

I'm boycotting Coca-Cola too... not that thatll help anything...
we should really organize something - a protest or a mass boycott or anything that will get Coke's rich CEOs listening.
this reminds me of a joke from one of my favourite comedians (Ron James).....

"I go to starbucks to see what the world would have been like if Hitler had won the war"

He was talking about the workers being aryans and snobish, then he procedes to call the [canadian] Tim Hortons, a "proletariat's coffee shop".

It's funnier from him, I swear :D

[Pete]

I agree that the business mentality is harmful, but as a realist, I know I have to live right now, so as much as I abhorr the system to keep myself eating (and awake all night doing my studying) I have to indulge in it some how. I do that through that little family owned coffee shop who sells only fair trade and buying their beans to make my own coffee... Slowly the buffer of ideal and reality is breaking down, and I have an urge to live, so until I can do so without helping the system in any way I will hurt the biggest figures as much as possible.

[Urban Rubble]

I enjoy StarBucks very much. Drip coffee there is 1.50, but so damn good.

[Pete]

1.50 at Starbucks? I'm assuming thats American, its 1.50 at most indy fair trade shops that I frequent. Ohh Uncle Bob...

[EneME]

They call it, "flavour roasting." I just say they burnt the damn beans.
YES!!! Thats what I tell everyone but no one believes me! I can only have coffee in a couple places, its usually crap.

[Urban Rubble]

1.50 at Starbucks? I'm assuming thats American, its 1.50 at most indy fair trade shops that I frequent. Ohh Uncle Bob...

Ya. I don't think $1.50 is bad at all. If you are a coffee coniseur, you realize that Starbucks is good coffee. I don't think that's all that much for good coffee.


YES!!! Thats what I tell everyone but no one believes me! I can only have coffee in a couple places, its usually crap.

Bullshit. You can alot of things about Starbucks, but you cannot say they don't make quality coffee, because they do.

[Iepilei]

and suddenly the term "coffeeshop revolutionary" all makes sense ;)

they still suck.

[Comrade Yars]

bah! I love starbucks... what are they... frapucino's? Anyway, they're good :D

[BuyOurEverything]

this reminds me of a joke from one of my favourite comedians (Ron James).....

"I go to starbucks to see what the world would have been like if Hitler had won the war"

He was talking about the workers being aryans and snobish, then he procedes to call the [canadian] Tim Hortons, a "proletariat's coffee shop".

It's funnier from him, I swear

It's quite true except Tim Hortons coffee tastes like shit.

I just make my own coffee. It's cheaper and better.

[EneME]

Frap's have too much dairy bleh...no coffee in it. But thats me, a coffee feind. I like regular coffee, I love coffee from Denny's and Nations...yum. And 1.50 is pretty cheap..i think.

[praxis1966]

Starbuck's is shit no matter which way you cut it. None of those pimply faced pubescents know how to froth milk, let alone know how to get a decent tamp. I know, I used to work as a barista in a coffee bar (all be it in a corporate one) and at least I knew what I was doing. All those crapuccino drinks they sell are nothing more than esspresso flavored frozen desserts. Try asking them to make a layered breve sometime and see what kind of response you get. Better yet, get a shot of esspresso and see if you can stand a spoon in it. If not, you're getting some Anglicized bullshit version of the real thing. White people...

[Mano Dayak]

I don't go there anyway, they're far too expensive in Switzerland.

[Jesus Christ]

I also like their frappucinos
theyre good

[resistpsychicdeath]

Starbucks is just another greed driven corporation. They invade cities/towns/neighborhoods, and attract so much attention they usually force the smaller, local businesses to close. Make yr own damn coffee!

[Fidelbrand]

They make shit coffee.............. watery~~~~~~ :( :blink:

[SonofRage]

First, most Starbucks only give you fair trade coffeee if you specifically ask for it. Secondly, it's silly to argue over whether or not the coffee is good since it is strictly a matter of opinion.

[Urban Rubble]

Ya, I know. I wasn't arguing whether it tastes good or not, just if it's quality coffee or not. And it is. Very high quality.

[Sabocat]

I drink coffee black, no sugar. I like the taste of coffee on it's own. Starbucks is the most flavorful coffee I have available to me. There's nothing better than the Sumatra.

I buy the Fair Market beans and grind them at the office.

My only real choices for coffee on the go in my area are Dunkin Donuts, which is absolute shit coffee, or Starbucks. No contest. Besides, DD still uses those shit styrofoam cups, and I refuse to contaminate the earth with that stuff.

[Urban Rubble]

I don't know how widely it's available around the country, but Seattle's Best Coffee is a close second to StarBucks. They sell it at McDonalds around here.

[Fidelbrand]

Originally posted by [email protected] 23 2003, 12:51 PM
First, most Starbucks only give you fair trade coffeee if you specifically ask for it. Secondly, it's silly to argue over whether or not the coffee is good since it is strictly a matter of opinion.
take it easy...... @#$%^$#@...