Starbucks to sell Rwanda Fairtrade coffee in UK

June 30, 10:46 AMCoffee ExaminerMary Ann Lien

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Howard Schultz, chairman, president and ceo, Starbucks Coffee Company, Harriet Lamb, executive director, Fairtrade Foundation and Darcy Willson-Rymer managing director, Starbucks UK & Ireland with coffee farmers at a coffee washing station at Dukunde Kawa Cooperative in Rwanda. The Cooperative is where the first Starbucks 100% Fairtrade Certified Rwanda whole bean available for a limited time in the UK next year is grown, Sunday, June 28, 2009 (photo by Riccardo Gangale).

Starbucks Furthers Relationship with Fairtrade Organizations and Rwanda

Starbucks Coffee Company announced June 29th, 2009 their next step in solidifying a relationship with Fairtrade. Starbucks goal is to have all espresso sold in their UK stores to be both Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ and Fairtrade Certified™ by the end of 2009. In addition, Starbucks will make their first 100% Fairtrade certified whole bean coffee from Rwanda available in the UK as a limited edition coffee by early 2010.

Coffee produced by Rwanda’s Dukunde Kawa Cooperative earned Fairtrade certification in 2004, and first received Starbuck’s coffee buyers in 2005. The coffee they supply will be a limited run of fully-washed Bourbon Arabica.

As the largest purchaser of Fairtrade coffee, Starbucks is building on a relationship with other Fairtrade organizations that spans a decade. They are joined in this current effort by the Fairtrade Foundation and the Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO).

Howard Schultz, chairman, president and ceo, Starbucks Coffee Company receives a gift from Janet Kubula of Fair Winds Trading at Gahaya Links training center in Rwanda. Beginning June 30, select Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada will offer charms from Gahaya, Friday, June 26, 2009. (photo by Riccardo Gangale)

 Starbucks Opens Farmer Support Center in Kigali

This announcement marks the opening of the Starbucks Farmer Support Center in Kigali where ongoing assistance and support will be offered to east African coffee producers to improve farming practices, the quality and yield of their crops, and increase their earnings. A similar center was opened in 2004 in Costa Rica and has assisted local farmers in increasing their yield by twenty percent. Starbucks has invested $9 million dollars to date in loans to over 85 million east African farmers to develop their businesses.

Peter Torrebiarte, director of farmer support center, Latin America, blogged his experience with the Starbucks team in Rwanda for readers to share.