greenlagirl

03:13 pm: East Setauket and Port Jefferson, NY: Fair trade failure :(
Paul writes about 2 Starbucks Challenges in New York:

I've "challenged" two Starbucks in my area, East Setauket, NY and Port Jefferson, NY and the responses were discouraging, but from your posts, seemingly typical. "All our coffees are fair trade, it justs costs the farmers too much money to get certified."

emailed by Paul on Aug 23, 2007 1:25 AM

Tags: coffee, eastsetauket, fair, newyork, ny, portjefferson, starbucks, starbuckschallenge

01:09 pm: Kate reports on a Starbucks Challenge:

I notice that the dates for the challenge are back in 2005/6 but I thought I
would test it out. apologies if the info is too late. I unfortunately had
no luck at all 490 Brannan Street, San francisco, CA 94107 starbucks.

I tried to order a FairTrade regular coffee and was asked whether I wanted a
bag of coffee to go. I explained I wanted a regular coffee made with Fair
Trade coffee and was basically told "no, they were brewing xxx (cant
remember what)".

It was vv clear that neither of the 2 employees had any idea what I was
talking about.

is the Starbucks policy past history?

Kate

Emailed on Feb 21, 2007 4:02 PM

08:02 pm: New York, NY: 3 challenge unsuccesses :(
I don't know if you're still collecting stories, but:

So far I've tested three Starbucks in the NYC area (115th and Broadway
by Columbia University, in the Hamilton Place building off of Wall
Street, and in Union Square) and none of the baristas have had the
faintest idea what I'm talking about. In each place, I had to explain
what "fair trade" meant - they weren't familiar even with the term.
Telling.

Thanks,
Sarah

04:29 pm: Beverly Hills, CA: Fair trade success
Take the Starbucks Challenge!

Erika reports on a Starbucks Challenge she tried in Beverly Hills, CA :)

Hi,

I work at Fox Studios in Century City and our production assistants do
a Starbucks coffee run every day. I always say no thank-you, but I
finally decided to ask the PAs if they were willing to investigate for
me. They asked their Starbucks about Cafe Estima and they said they
brew it every hour. It's the blend they use the most. I'm going to
follow-up on my own to make sure this is true, but it was still very
exciting to hear. The location of the starbucks they go to is at
Olympic and Doheny.

9049 Olympic Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
310-275-0253

I don't know if this is a reflection on Starbucks or the Entertainment
Industry, but I was very happy to get a cup of fair-trade coffee
because I've always boycotted them with a passion.

I just wanted to share my story. I'll let you know if I learn anything else.

Emailed on Oct 26, 2006 9:57 PM.

12:07 am: Take the Starbucks Challenge! I'll be posting the unblogged reports from participating challengers here :)

Rodney of Equal Exchange reports about an experience requesting fair trade coffee at a Starbucks:

where: 599 Lexington Ave. NY, NY
date: 9/27/06

asked for a cup of their FT coffee.

"sorry, we're not brewing that today"

"but your website says that I can ask you to brew me a cup of FT coffee"

"oh, that's for next week. Next week is all about small farmers, Fair Trade, & that kind of thing"

----

So, what I take away from that is "this week we don't care about farmers, [and the barista then smiles brightly] but don't worry, next week will !"

Emailed by Rodney on Sep 27, 2006 7:32 AM

09:25 pm: Miguel: fair grade failure :(
Take the Starbucks Challenge! I'll be posting the unblogged reports from participating challengers here :)

Miguel reports about an experience requesting fair trade coffee at a Starbucks:

I didn't know about the challange but I asked for fairtrade, the
answer I got is that it had to be brewed so it would take 5 minutes,
I was in a hurry so i said ok fuck it give me normal coffee than,
what happened was that normal coffee had to be brewed as well!! so it
took 5 damn minutes anyway!! how's that!?
keep it going
miguel

Emailed by Miguel on Jun 23, 2006 2:01 PM

07:30 pm: Philip: Fair trade failure, misinformation, and rudeness
Take the Starbucks Challenge!

I'll be posting the unblogged reports from participating challengers here :)

Philip reports about an experience requesting fair trade coffee at a Starbucks:


Starbucks is only very recently establishing a presence in Ireland.

The following challenge took place in the Starbucks in the Dundrum Shopping Centre (that's a mall to you guys) in Dublin. My wife approached the most senior looking person behind the counter.

Suzanne: Can I have a cup of Fair Trade coffee please.

Barista: All of our coffee is Fair Trade.

Suzanne: Really. That's interesting. But I would like a cup of "Fair Trade" branded coffee.

Barista: Look, Fair Trade is a much bandied about term that not a lot of people understand. But I can assure you that all of our coffee is Fair Trade.

Suzanne: Really. But it is not all branded Fair Trade?

Barista: That's not really important

Suzanne: Even so I would like a cup of coffee, ground from beans that come from a bag that bears the Fair Trade logo.

Barista: Look, Fair Trade is a marketing excercise used by other companies to give them competitive advantage over companies that don't sell Fair Trade.

Suzanne: (Getting a bit embarassed by the number of people behind her by this stage) Can you sell me a Fair Trade coffee or not?

Barista: No!

She turned on her heel and left. To be completely fair, while the Barista obviously knew what Fair Trade coffee is, I have not been able to establish from Starbucks whether Ireland is one of the countries that they offer Fair Trade products in.

Philip

Emailed by Philip on May 24, 2006 3:39 PM

11:31 am: Peter: Kingston, Ontario at the corner of Taylor Kidd Blvd and Gardiner's Rd
Take the Starbucks Challenge!

I'll be posting the unblogged reports from participating challengers here :)

Peter reports about an experience requesting fair trade coffee at a Starbucks:


Hi!

On May 12, 2006 I went to a Starbucks in Kingston, Ontario, Canada (corner of Taylor Kidd Boulevard and Gardiner’s Road) to assess the availability of fair trade coffee. There were no beverages available made with fair trade coffee. There were no pamphlets or other information available on fair trade coffee. There was nothing visible on the menus to do with fair trade coffee (take out beverage or take-home bags of whole beans). I did see an option to buy shade-grown coffee beans. I asked the Barista about fair trade coffee and she gave me a puzzled look. After a moment she indicated to me that Starbucks coffee “met all standards”. As I was waiting for my latte, she came to see me and politely produced a pre-packaged one-pound bag of fair trade coffee. Consistent with observations made by others and recorded on internet blogs, Starbucks has not made it easy to buy a cup of fair trade coffee!

Peter

Emailed by Peter on May 13, 2006 4:59 AM

12:39 pm: Christopher: Fullerton, CA: One success, one unsuccess
Take the Starbucks Challenge!

I'll be posting the unblogged reports from participating challengers here :)


Christopher reports about two experiences requesting fair trade coffee at a Starbucks:


I walked into the local Starbucks (Starbucks on the corner of Brea Blvd. and Imperial Hwy), feeling a little anxious to ask for and taste their Fair Trade Coffee, knowing that I will be supporting such a good, healthy, and aware cause. Upon entering, there was a line of five or six people (not uncommon, for this particular Starbucks always has heavy traffic), and I stood and waited while people placed their orders for their ultra-frapp-o-machiat-[insert 25 more suffixes]-drink, and still have the audacity to call it "coffee." After witnessing the soft-spoken barista attempt to call over two customers who forgot to pay after they placed their custom orders, I had to get their attention to come back.

The barista then asked if he could help me and I ordered a venti Fair Trade coffee. He looked baffled for about five seconds, asked for my order again, and proceeded to go ask another employee while still looking utterly confused. I saw him, and the middle-aged coworker converse and the barista returned looking nervous like he was about to tell me some horrific news. And it was; he announced that they didn't have and Fair Trade coffee right now. I politely consoled him and let him know that it was ok, with vengeful thoughts of writing a nasty letter incubating in my mind.

Disappointed, I went to another Starbucks, this one on the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Imperial in the city Fullerton. It is a drive-through and the woman that assisted me was very kind and was seemingly pleased to serve me my Fair Trade coffee. I believe that it was mutually satisfying, and I look forward to asking Starbucks all over the Southland for some tasty, cruelty free, Fair Trade Coffee.

Emailed by Christopher on Apr 24, 2006 11:03 AM

10:38 am: Los Angeles, CA in Westwood Village: Barista didn't know what fair trade was...
Take the Starbucks Challenge!

I'll be posting the unblogged reports from participating challengers here :)


audbot reports about an experience requesting fair trade coffee at a Starbucks:

After a blank look followed by my explanation of what "fair trade" meant, the barrista at the Westwood, Los Angeles location (where UCLA students frequent the most) replies "oh yeah Fair Trade. Man i only get paid $7.50 an hour, i'm all for better wages"
by audbot to starbuckschallenge ... saved by 8 other people ... on april 3

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