Seattle's Best Coffee on Delta

Precisely, along with providing the employee population with proper access to sanitation, water, light, health care and education.

But, with a trans-national like Starbucks, they feel that development can be dictated in the same ways as business decisions...which is completely the opposite...

Well, doesn't that help maintain a skilled, reliable and dedicated workforce?

But, Starbucks doesn't want to pay for it. In fact, due to the volume that they are purchasing, they typically rely upon local distributors to deal with the local growers. Often times, these intermediaries are corrupt and abscond with the amount that Starbucks pays for the beans. Therefore, there are cases in which the local grower only makes 40 cents on the dollar, while the middleman takes the other 60 cents. In addition, companies like Starbucks also entice people to become coffee producers, which can artificially flood the market, driving prices lower.

Classic. Did they study the manual that Chiquita wrote in the 1920's?

Actually, they improved on it as they no longer need to overthrow the existing government, but rather show them dollar signs and the promises of further development.

This is why when I see that Starbucks has "fair trade" coffee, I chuckle to myself.

IMHO - Alitalia has the best coffee. They may not paint their aircraft often and it maybe rare a flight leaves or arrives on time.., but they do this one thing very well.

The prior practices were not exactly... heart warming. I agree there. However they have changed a good bit. Especially after they got their nose bloodied when they over-expanded and over-reached. The pastries are now artificial industrial crap free (which is why my former favorite the Toffee Nut Brownie is no more ) and they are moving to a more sustainable model in coffee plantation buying. Some coffee is only available in very limited quantity and only at certain times because that is when they can get it and how much they can get (I think there is a Yemen one that only comes around every 12-18 months).

Is the "fair trade" label accurate? About as accurate as the "green" label is. It can be gamed, but when Starbucks is changing so many things for the better for their employees and the communities they are in (for example, for the last 2 years they have sent all their store managers to New Orleans for 2 days of meetings and 4 days of building homes) I have to see hard evidence that they are gaming the label before I'll slap the "evil" or whatever sticker on them.

New idea! I think Gargoyle, The Boat, and I need to go on a tour of all the coffee plantations that Starbucks buys from and report back what we find. We will gladly accept donations as we will need to fly in paid F due to the tough work we will be doing. And of course we can only fly on carriers like Singapore, Emerites, Qantas, etc.

It will be tough, but I'm willing to subject myself to it for the good of the community.

We will also need to be sent to Italy in paid F on an AZ 777 to confirm that.
In fact, since you say it's "the best" we'll need to repeat on other carriers for a comparison.

I'm sure funding can be arranged for this "fact-finding" mission...

But, I wonder how it can be reasoned that paid F is the most appropriate way of generating results...

It's very hard work, so it is mission-critical that the team be in the best possible mental, emotional and physical condition. Anything less will inhibit the sensory acuity and the precision of the taste buds.

As well as generate a baseline for further tests...

IMHO, much of the green, fair trade stuff is an excuse to charge more money with no true traceability.

Even Free Range certifying organizations are really out to make money, so who really know what goes on at the source.

Personally I seek out the genetically modified, irradiated food at the store. When I eat it, it gives me that satisfying inner glow.

For some, Free Range is nothing more than opening the door at the end of a long barn, then putting an exhaust fan in the opening to extract the stale air.

And since radiation therapy is used to defeat cancer (in some instances), you may be on to something

has anyone mentioned Peet's here?

No, we don't want to give them any ideas. If a coffee company gets too big, they have to increase production, increase sources of raw beans, etc... double your sales volume and your quality has to decrease. So, if we can keep airlines from pouring Peet's, we can maintain the quality of Peets.

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