Coffee Industry

What do you think of the premium coffee that you sip at Starbucks or the likes of those premium coffee outlets (Costa Coffee, Gloria Jeans, Second Cup and Caribou among others). Do you think that the price you pay for it is worth it?

Well my personnal opinion is well, in a place like Kuwait where the summer season is like ur breakfast and lunch (dinner been winter + weird climates), Coffee Shops are a blessing and its worth the pay.

Well that been settled, what do you think of coffee growers? Do you want to be a coffee grower? Well if you have done a little research, you would never want to be a coffee grower. Majority of the coffee growers are located in Brazil, Vietnam and Columbia and are in fact one of the poorest people around. Sounds funny nah when you actually think Starbucks charge 3 dollars (whew) for a cup of coffee. But while starbucks makes 3 dollars, we got the coffee growers paid 25 cents for the same cup of coffee beans. Now isn't that unfair!!! I mean the coffee growers struggle throughout the year on the coffee plantations and all they get is around 9% of the revenue generated!!! I know there are costs for the roasting and the transportation process and all but still!!!

Thats when the coffee fair trade came along. Under the agreement the buyers of coffee's who are the big multinationals such as Nestle, Kraft, Proctor and Gamble etc are required to pay a substantial amount (more than a dollar) for the coffee they purchase from coffee growers.

Starbucks says it all over their site that they were involved with helping the community and they are with the coffee fair trade community. But the fact is that it was under the pressure of activists for coffee growers who threatened to hold demonstrations on their outlets all over the world that compiled Startbucks to join the coffee fair trade.

Now whenever I think of ordering another cup of cold coffee, I think twice. But then go ahead and order it anyway. Starbucks making profits is not a bad thing. Everyone wants profits otherwise why do business, but being fair in business is also a kind of social responsibilty, Starbucks was forced by the plight of coffee growers. So as long as we got a system wherin we can keep a check on injustice and tackle it in time, You can just go ahead and drink the coffee cup you always wanted on that hot summer afternoon!!!