Earthwatch and Starbucks Benefit Coffee Farmers in Costa Rica

Newswise — Earthwatch Institute, the world’s leading environmental volunteer organization, and Starbucks Coffee Company are proud to announce the extension of their partnership that brings Starbucks partners (employees) and customers together on Earthwatch environmental expeditions. The 2007 project will focus on conducting scientific research designed to benefit a cooperative of 2,600 coffee farms in Costa Rica.

Partners and customers with a taste for adventure can participate in this different kind of Starbucks Experience, at the source of the bean, and do good deeds for the environment.

This summer, eight partners and 20 customers will have a chance to join special Earthwatch expeditions at CoopeTarrazú, a coffee cooperative in central Costa Rica. These Earthwatch volunteer teams will use GIS (Geographic Information System) technology to provide a broad scale analysis of factors important to a farmer – including soil erosion and water quality. This program is the first component of Starbucks’ $1.1 million, three-year commitment, representing the growing partnership with the Earthwatch Institute that began in 2000.

”Coffee and our partners are the foundation of Starbucks’ success,” said Dub Hay, Starbucks senior vice president, Coffee and Global Procurement. “By extending our successful partnership with Earthwatch, we are able to provide a unique and uplifting experience for our partners and customers, while continuing the work we do with farmers to help ensure their long-term success.”

In 2005, Starbucks sent partners and customers on a two-week Earthwatch expedition to plant tree seedlings, restoring part of Costa Rica’s vanishing rainforest. "Planting trees to help restore the rainforest in Agua Buena, Costa Rica was an amazing, life-changing opportunity,” said Amber Chenoweth, a Starbucks partner in Seattle who was selected to participate as a volunteer on the expedition. “I was able to blend all my passions: connecting with others, coffee, conservation, photography and helping others. I actually got to live the Starbucks guiding principle: contributing positively to our communities and environment."

Earthwatch volunteers at CoopeTarrazú will map water resources and biodiversity indicators, such as the number and types of trees and insects. Local farmers will receive the maps, research results, and management tools to enhance the environmental sustainability of their farms, as well as yield and quality of their coffee. In addition, the partnership will provide support for educational development and fostering community for 40 local leaders.

Starbucks, a leader in the global community, and Earthwatch have worked together on 15 different conservation projects. The partnership spawned expeditions in diverse settings around the world, including Kenya, Belize, and Vietnam. The research at CoopeTarrazú is just one of more than 130 ongoing Earthwatch field research projects around the globe. Since the early 1990s, Earthwatch has been working with organizations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America on a number of conservation issues to provide training and networking opportunities in communities where research is being conducted. These individuals use their experiences to directly influence management and conservation activities.

“By involving the people in the issues,” said Dr. Marie Studer, chief science officer at Earthwatch, “the joint Starbucks-Earthwatch program not only provides tools and options to the farmers to better manage their farms, but also helps raise awareness in the global community.”

Starting in April, you can enter this year’s sweepstakes at any Starbucks store and win a trip to Costa Rica. There, you will be an integral part of the research effort at CoopeTarrazú. Visit your local Starbucks or visit www.starbucks.com for more information. The customer sweepstakes ends May 13, 2007, with a drawing of 20 winners.

Earthwatch’s mission is to engage people worldwide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment. Earthwatch works with over 40 Fortune 500 corporations as a leading volunteer organization. For the second year in a row, Earthwatch has earned a 4-star rating, the highest rating from Charity Navigator, indicating that Earthwatch Institute exceeds standards and outperforms most charities in America. More info at www.earthwatch.org

About Starbucks
Starbucks Coffee Company provides an uplifting experience that enriches people’s lives one moment, one human being, one extraordinary cup of coffee at a time. To share in the experience, visit www.starbucks.com.

Starbucks Profit Rises 18% on Stores, Higher Prices

By Mary Jane Credeur

Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Starbucks Corp., the world's largest coffee-shop chain, said first-quarter profit rose 18 percent as the company raised prices and opened more stores.

Net income increased to $205 million, or 26 cents a share, from $174.2 million, or 22 cents, a year earlier. Sales in the three months ended Dec. 31 rose 22 percent to $2.36 billion.

Sales at locations open at least 13 months rose 6 percent, the company said today, helped by the sale of holiday drinks. Starbucks, which opened a record 728 stores during the quarter, in October increased prices by about 5 cents a cup to counter higher coffee and store-operating costs.

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Coffee Is More Important Than Lunch?

By J.W. ELPHINSTONE AP Business Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

— BUZZ BUZZ: What would you do for a cup of joe? Some coffee drinkers would go that extra mile for the fix, according to a recent survey.

Forty-two percent would trade in the morning paper, television or radio for a cup, while one in five would swap lunch for coffee. Twelve percent would give up three hours of sleep and one in 10 would skip brushing their teeth.

The survey found that two-thirds of Americans identify themselves as coffee drinkers, and nearly half drink at least one cup every day.

Men drink more cups per day than women, while people in the Northeast consume more coffee than drinkers in any other region.

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Far from the civilised centres of High St and Ponsonby Rd, savages roam a wild and brutish landscape. They travel in Toyotas or other Asian imports, stopping only when their most primitive desires - or their hungry, bawling offspring - indicate they should. At which stage they'll consume small unhealthy parcels of pastry and meat, deep fried potatoes and fat soaked sea creatures. But what's worse, far worse, than their mindless ingestion of meat pies, fish and chips, in fact, what really indicates their barbaric state of being, is this; they drink filter coffee. From gas stations. In plastic cups.

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Breakfast Perks Up Starbucks

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John Ivankoe, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase, predicted the coffee specialist would see earnings rise 20% for the financial year that runs through September. He noted that 2,400 Starbucks (nasdaq: SBUX - news - people ) sites would add breakfast sandwiches to their menus, joining 1,000 that already offer them.

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Kona Coffee Blend Labeling Law

Dear Friends of Kona Coffee:

As you may know, our County Council passed a Resolution asking that no coffee may bear the name Kona Blend unless it has a minimum of 75 % Kona in the package. State law currently allows the name Kona Blend to be used on coffee containing only 10%.

Rep. Bob Herkes has introduced House Bill 72, and Sen. Russell Kokubun has introduced Senate Bill 661, both these Bills respectfully follow our County Council Resolution and ask for a minimum of 75% Kona in the bag before the name Kona Blend can be used.

WHY is this so important?

100% Kona coffee sells for a high price, the second highest in the world. The price is due to its scarcity, and to its reputation for its unique flavor and quality. The flood of cheap blends using the name Kona makes the consumer think that the coffee is plentiful, and that the flavor is nothing special, tastes just the same as the average South American cheap coffee. If consumer perception continues to see this, few will be willing to pay 100% Kona’s premium price, and it will become uneconomical to farm coffee in Kona.

The Kona Coffee Farmers Association has come out strongly behind this legislation. If you want to help us, please call Bruce at 322-1740 or email info@konacoffeefarmers.org, and he will tell you where to send testimony, or we will pay for your airfare if you are willing to go yourself to testify in favor of the Bills.

PLEASE, if you do nothing else, sign the online petition at

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/75Kona/


For more info: www.konacoffeefarmers.org/