C.A.F.E. Practices

     I’m going to put a graphic face down in front of you each.  Please don’t look at it for now.  For now let us have a taste of our first coffee of the evening.  Remember have a sniff, try to identify an aroma, then take a big slurp, saturate your mouth with this coffee, have a taste of the coffee.  For this coffee, keep your findings to yourself.  It’s just you and the coffee. Now, turn over the sheet of paper in front of you and read what is printed.  Take another sip of your coffee.  Think about how much a coffee farmer receives from a regular cup of coffee. Three cents.  A fair trade cup of coffee will enable the farmer to receive fifteen cents a cup.  Is that enough?  When we buy a cup of this coffee, which happens to be a Reserve, are we paying enough?  Let me tell you about the farmer who grew the coffee you are presently tasting.  Commonly found in Nicaragua and El Salvador, Maracaturra is a hybrid varietal.  It is a cross between Caturra, know for its productivity  and balanced flavor, and Maragogipe, a high quality coffee that has earned the nickname “elephant beans”.  Maragogipe has big beans and is a low-yield coffee variety.  The cross with Caturra was made looking for a higher productivity and better quality. Only a handful of farmers grow Maracaturra, making it a rarity.  Pne reason, cultivating this varietal comes with a sizable responsibility.  It’s a delicate fragile plant that’s susceptible to coffee rust, a devastating fungus that attacks the leaves of a coffee tree.  Farmers have to invest extra time and resources to control this fungal disease.  Also its productivity is also lower compared to other common varieties.  That means the Maracaturra tree doesn’t produce as many coffee cherries each season.  On the Buenos Aires farm in Dipilito, Nicaragua, Luis Emilio Valladares knows well the challenges and rewards that come with the Maracaturra.  For fifty years he and his family have grown coffee.  This reserve is from his farm and he has had other reserves also.  In 2015 and 2017, Valladares won the Cup of Excellence. A very, very prestigious award, something like the World Cup or Stanley Cup of coffee.  At $4 for a grande cup of coffee, would you tell Mr. Valladares his coffee is too expensive? Again, is a cup of coffee here or at any café too expensive. That is what this seminar is about.

     In case you haven’t realized by now, I love coffee.  The relationship I have with coffee can’t be put into words.  It is beyond words.  Coffee to me is the worlds most amazing drink.  It has changed the very world we live in.  In the words of 18^th century historian and social critic Jules Michelet, “For this sparkling outburst of creative thought there is no doubt that  the honor should be ascribed in part to the great event which created new customs and even changed the human temperament-the advent of coffee.”

     This black beverage, that we so enjoy also has a very dark past.  Let me give you two examples.  Three thousand years ago the world’s first coffee lovers, were the nomadic Oromos.  Now these people just happened to live in the Kingdom of Kaffa.  Sound familiar?  The Oromos didn’t actually drink coffee, they ate it, crushed, mixed with fat and shaped into golf ball sized treats.  Sort of like an energy bar.  They were especially fond of eating these coffee-balls before going into battle against the people of Bonga.  The Oromos unfortunately lost most of these battles which was especially bad because the Bonga’s were first rate slave traders.  Each year they would send seven thousand slaves each year to the Arabic markets in Harrar.  Some of those seven thousand slaves were the coffee bar munching Oromos.  It was the Oromos who, accidently, first brought coffee to Harrar.  To this day you can still see the old slave trails shaded by coffee trees that have grown from the Oromos discarded meals. 

     Now, let us jump ahead in time say about 2500 years.  For much of the 18^th century, the economies of the Caribbean colonial possessions of France, Britain, and Spain were dominated by the cultivation of and trade in sugar, an incredibly valuable commodity that depended entirely upon slave labor for its production.  When coffee arrived in the early eighteenth century, it became quickly established, not only because of fertile soil of the islands, but also because the plantation economy and the slave infrastructure was already in place.  Coffee flourished in the more mountainous areas of the larger islands, thus making it possible to extend the existing systems into previously uncultivated areas, further enriching the landowners.  The cultivation of coffee was not in competition with that of sugar, but complimentary to it.  It is estimated that by 1700, some 400,000 slaves were imported  into Brazil. 44,000 into Martinique.  150,000 into Peru.  25000 into Central America. 12000 into Venezuela.  250000 into Columbia.  Each year the demand for slaves for the Spanish territories alone was 40,000.

     These slaves, people ironically enough from the same place as the crop that they were forced to harvest, were transported to our side of the world on slave ships.  Let me read you something: “The conditions of the slave ships were, of course, appalling; even the crews suffered an average death rate of some 20 per cent on a round trip.  Once they had reached their destination, the slaves were cleaned up, and fed, then auctioned off to start their future life, which consisted almost entirely of work, from sun-up until ten at night, encouraged by the lash.  Any spare time would have to be spent tending the vegetable garden from which they had to supplement their pitiful rations.  Marriage in general was not encouraged, most slave owners believed it was cheaper to buy a new slave than to rear one.”  Now, that little paragraph is from the book Coffee: A Dark History by Anthony Wild.  When I first read this part, I had to close the book.  This piece of coffee history haunted me.  It still haunts me.

     Let’s fast forward a bit, one more story.  Two of the world’s largest companies admit to using slave labor in the harvest and processing of coffee on their plantations.  These, slaves, people trafficked to work for little or no pay, live on rubbish heaps, and drink dirty water alongside animals.  They face debt bondage, non-existent work contracts and accommodation without doors or mattresses. Any guesses when this happened?  Last year actually.  2016.  The two companies, Nestle and Jacobs Douwe Egberts admitted that slaves were used in their coffee operations.

     Coffee has throughout its history, relied on workers who were paid nothing or very little.  That continues today.  In recent years though a start has been made to change this travesty.  Fair trade, Free trade and CAFÉ practices help in part to improve the lives of farmers, their families and their workers.  Anyone who has worked with me, knows how fanatical I am when it comes to the cleanliness of our café.  I continually mouth off to shift supervisors and managers about the need to present to our customers an immaculate end to this coffee chain.  Farmers in seventy countries start this process and we complete it.  It is my responsibility to honour the coffee slaves of the past and the small lot farmer families of the present. If you think this notion cute or naïve, I have two words for you and there not Dark Roast.

Times and circumstances are slowly, slowly changing.  With the help of Fair Trade and café practices farmers are getting more of a fair share of what you pay for your daily cup of coffee.  Above all else, coffee is about people, the people who drink it, the people who make it, and the people who produce it.  It is impossible to replace the coffee process, from crop to crop, with machines.  We rely on the people tending their coffee trees.  We rely on the traders and exporters.  We rely on the roasts and we rely on the baristas.  Simply put, without people there is no coffee.  Therefore, it is intensely important that the people in the coffee chain are traded with fairly and transparently thereby sustaining the industry that sustains us.  Briefly, I will go over each of these avenues towards a better relationship.

Fairtrade.  Is the leading fair trade movement in the agricultural sector.  Its name and brand (the Fairtrade Label) are owned by Fairtrade International and onl companies certified against Fairtrade Standards can use it and apply the label on their products.  Fairtrade is an ethical certification system which aims to promote more equality and sustainability.  All farmers and traders are annually audited to ensure compliance.   In one of those videos a guaranteed price is mentioned.  Why is this?  Here is a graph of world coffee prices from 1963 to 2011.  Its like a roller coaster ride.  With incredible plunges in prices.  With Fairtrade a minimum price is guaranteed.

Direct Trade. Is a form of sourcing practiced by some coffee roasters, referring to direct sourcing from farmers, with standards varying between producers.  Advocates of direct trade practices promote direct communication and price negation between buyer and farmer, along with systems that encourage and incentivize quality.  There is no agreed definition of the term, and unlike fairtrade coffee, there is no third party certification that the conditions stated by the coffee buyers are being compiled with.  The term was pioneered by the collective efforts of Intelligentsia Coffee and Counter Culture Coffee.  

Relationship Coffee was coined by David Griswold of Sustainable Harvest in 2000 and has since become a popular way to describe coffee purchasing practices.  Relationship coffee is a long term agreement between a green coffee buyer and a farmer that seeks to transcend market fluctuations and eliminate middlemen.  Relationship coffee should always involve a direct, face to face interaction between the farmer and the roaster based on trust and transparency.

CAFÉ Practices.  Starbucks has its own green coffee sourcing standard, known as CAFÉ (Coffee and Farm Equity) Practices.  Now, as you might have guessed I work at Starbucks, so in researching this topic, I wanted the fairest and also a critical assessment of the green sourcing standard practiced by Starbucks.  This article quoted in its entirety was written by Julie Craves for the blog, Coffee and Conservation. 

Following is the article;

The green coffee sourcing standard used by Starbucks to purchase their coffee is known as the CAFÉ (Coffee and Farm Equity) Practices program. The standard was developed in partnership with Conservation International and an independent third-party company, SCS Global Services.

The standard encompasses four categories: product quality, economic accountability, social responsibility, and environmental leadership. Interestingly, the first two categories are prerequisites. In 2008, Starbucks set a goal that all their coffee would be purchased under CAFÉ Practices, Fairtrade, and/or some other externally audited system by 2015. In 2014, Starbucks purchased more than 209,000 tons of coffee, coming within 4 percent of that goal. Now at 99 percent, the company says it is committed to chasing the final 1 percent.

There have been a number of updates to CAFÉ Practices, the latest coming in 2014.

Brief Overview: How it Works

CAFÉ Practices operates on a points system, with points awarded for compliance with individual “indicators.” In the latest version, 3.3, there are 185 total indicators. There are fewer for smallholders who hold less than 12 hectares, including those who are part of a cooperative. From those indicators, there are over 100 possible points to be awarded under the categories of Social Responsibility, Environmental Leadership-Coffee Growing, and Environmental Leadership-Coffee Processing. Suppliers must comply with mandatory “zero-tolerance” indicators.

“Preferred supplier” status is awarded to those that score at least 60 percent, and suppliers that score 80 percent or greater get “strategic supplier” status. Preferred and strategic suppliers get enhanced pricing and contract terms. Suppliers that score below 60 percent are considered “verified suppliers.” They must go through the time and expense of re-verification in a year, whereas suppliers with higher statuses can retain their status for three or four years.

In 2012, the most recent year in which an assessment was completed, the average score for all new and renewing suppliers was 80%, with 60% of suppliers either in the “preferred” or “strategic” category.

What Kinds of Environmental Criteria are Included?

The Environmental Leadership-Coffee Growing area deals with cultivation of coffee. It consists of four principals — Protecting Water Resources, Protecting Soil Resources, Conserving Biodiversity, and Environmental Management and Monitoring — with 11 criteria and 89 indicators. Over 40 percent of the total possible points are in this area for either smallholders or larger suppliers.

Some examples of Protecting Water Resources include buffer zones next to water bodies — they include specific measurements, different criteria for permanent and intermittent water bodies, and award points for the inclusion of native vegetation. The Protecting Soil principal concerns managing erosion as well soil health, including the use of organic mulch and planting nitrogen-fixing shade trees.

The criteria for Conserving Biodiversity are Maintaining a Coffee Shade Canopy, Protecting Wildife, and Conservation Areas. Regarding shade, a point can be awarded for a minimum canopy cover of only 10%, but additional points are given for a 40% minimum, the existence of at least two canopy layers, using a diversity of tree species, using mostly native trees, and/or prohibiting invasive species. Details are given for what needs to be included in a farm’s shade management plan. Producers are also encouraged via points to establish and protect conservation areas for habitat restoration, establishing corridors between natural areas, setting aside 5 to 10 percent of the farm for a conservation area, and/or having ecological assessments performed by biologists.

Criteria for pesticides and pest control fall under Environmental Management and Monitoring. Points are awarded for ecologically-friendly practices such as using chemicals only as a last resort or on a spot-application basis and implementation of an Integrated Pest Management Plan.

How do the Starbucks CAFE Practices Environmental Standards Compare to Other Certifications?

Each certification scheme has a different format. They not only vary in the breadth and depth of the individual criteria, but also in the way the criteria are evaluated and how “points” are awarded toward certification. With those caveats in mind, Starbucks CAFÉ Practices environmental criteria are most comparable to those of the current Rainforest Alliance certification requirements in terms of their scope and goals

Starbucks coffee from preferred or strategic suppliers is more likely to have been grown under ecologically friendly conditions than coffee only certified by UTZ or a Fair Trade initiative, which have fewer or very general environmental standards. Bird-Friendly certified coffee, with habitat-focused criteria developed by ecologists and organic certification baked in, remains the coffee grown under the most biodiversity-friendly methods.

Criticisms

There has been a healthy amount of skepticism over the years regarding the role of Starbucks’ partner in the sustainability standard, the nonprofit Conservation International. One of the world’s largest conservation groups, CI’s other corporate clients include ExxonMobil, Shell, Walmart, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Monsanto, and Disney. However, while CI helped develop the CAFÉ Practices criteria, all verification audits are done by SCS Global Services, a neutral, financially independent third party.

That said, many large coffee companies buy a small percentage of certified coffee for a few of their brands a leave it at that. In their company-wideness alone, the efforts of Starbucks are both substantial and important. You can examine all of the Starbucks CAFÉ Practices criteria and download the standards documents and manuals online at the SCS web site. You can also download current and past Global Responsibility reports at the Starbucks website.

Ethical Sourcing

Starbucks is dedicated to helping farmers overcome the challenges facing coffee communities. We are committed to buying 100 percent ethically sourced coffee in partnership with Conservation International. To improve productivity and sustainability, we share our research and resources through our Farmer Support Centers—located in coffee-producing countries around the world. They’re open to farmers regardless of whether they sell to us. Thanks to the support of our customers, we’re also donating millions of disease-resistant trees to help farmers fight threats like coffee leaf rust. And through our Global Farmer Fund program, we’re investing $50 million toward financing for farmers, allowing them to renovate their farm or pursue more sustainable practices.

Now we’re collaborating with the industry to make coffee the world’s first sustainable agricultural product, as a founding member of the Sustainable Coffee Challenge.

In total, Starbucks has invested more than $100 million in supporting coffee communities. Collaborative farmer programs and activities – including Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices, farmer support centers, farmer loans and forest carbon projects. All of these programs directly support improving farmer livelihoods and ensuring a long-term supply of high-quality coffee for the industry.

In deploying a comprehensive strategy, Starbucks is improving the resilience of our supply chain and ensuring the long-term supply of high-quality coffees, as well as building stronger, enduring farming communities for generations to come.

Making coffee the first sustainable agricultural product:

We know that the most pressing issues in coffee can’t be solved by one company alone, and that the best solutions require everyone coming together to collaborate in bringing about a better future for farmers. Our journey of ethical sourcing requires looking beyond our own supply chain. After achieving our 99% ethically sourced milestone, Starbucks asked “what’s next, and how can we work with the whole sector to get to 100% sustainable coffee?"

Starbucks is a founding member, alongside a growing coalition of industry leaders, of the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, a call to action led by Conservation International to make coffee the world’s first sustainable agriculture product. The challenge is convening the sector to sustain the future supply of coffee while ensuring the prosperity and well-being of farmers and workers and conserving nature.

The Sustainable Coffee Challenge, is a joint initiative of over 60 partners working together to make coffee the world’s first sustainable agricultural product. Members include coffee producers, retailers, traders, roasters, importers, industry associations, governments, donor agencies and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are building a sustainability roadmap for achieving a fully sustainable coffee sector.

In 2017 the Sustainable Coffee Challenge launched its first action networks to coordinate industry action and investment. By launching Collective Action Networks the Challenge will advance sharing of experience and collaboration to significantly advance our progress toward sustainable coffee production.

One of the first Action Networks tackles the issue around aging trees and a focus to support tree replacement or rehabilitation. Starbucks recent commitment to provide 100 million trees to farmers by 2025 has a cumulative effect when added to the work of The Sustainable Coffee Challenge who recently announced an industry wide effort to re-plant 1 billion coffee trees.

     There are many things that I love about coffee.  One in particular are the stories.  Every one of our Reserve Coffees has a story behind it.  A story about a farmer, a farm or a cooperative.  Let me tell you some stories behind some of these Reserve Taster Cards.  The Reserve Bitta Farm from Ethiopia.  This coffee is from an area of high altititude, higher levels of rainfall and a remote location.  For these reasons coffee infrastructure was in poor condition or non existent.  The mountainous roads of the region, really just trails were also a deterent.  Over the past few years, attention and investment has resulted in yields of truly quality coffee.  Rwandan Abakundakawa, this coffee comes from a co op where two thirds of the members are women.  The stated goal of the co op is to improve the coffee, improve the self confidence and improve the place of women in Rwandan society.  In the words  of one of the membersl; Since the start of this organization, now we have money, so our culture is changing from our  grandmothers, we have money in our pockets, so we can send our children to school and go to the hospital.  We are so happy the country knows us. And that the whole world knows us, because of our quality of coffee.  Better yet the word Abakandakawa means for the love of coffee.

     Hueheutenango, Guatemala.  Actually not a Reserve but a single origin coffee.  The farms in this region are small, 1.5-4 hectares owned by families who are second and third generation coffee farmers.  Many of the farms in the region are working toward organic certificiation and have been painstakingly pruning shade trees for maximum benefit.  Starbucks has worked with many in this region on infrastructure and improved coffee agronomy.  Starbucks has also brought bilingual, multi cultural education to more than 11,500 students with culturally appropriate curricula that emphasize their Mayan tradition.  In 2015 Starbucks granted World Coffee Research $400,000 to help replant and improve water management in the coffee farming areas of Guatemala.

One last video and one last tasting.  This is one of our Reserves from Guatemala.  El Gigante.  For over two decades Oswaldo Succhini has farmed an area in Guatemala not typically known for coffee. El Gigante has been a Starbucks Reserve Coffee on more than one occasion.  

     We who have this daily habit of coffee are slowly changing our attitudes toward the people who love and farm the land where coffee is grown.  Of course much more can be done.  What I have described during this seminar are ways we can equalize this relationship.