I actually have a mixed view about the donations, I do think it is great that they give away so much coffee. I just wonder if a Starbucks themed cafe is going a little too far. I believe corporate social responsibilty should be more than a veneer, and the Ethiopia issue seems to highlight a corporate culture within Starbucks that is not as friendly to producers as it could be.

Large Hamster & Zinger- thanks for commenting. Remember to be happy you are at the consumer end of the chain, rather than the producers.

(Benjamin- the Anastasis was retired due to age, as was the Caribbean Mercy. I guess they decided the ongoing costs of running older, smaller ships was less viable than one big, newer one. I wasn’t around when the decision was made but I know it was a hard one, and hard for the crew to day goodbye too.)

1) It buys coffee from Ethiopian farmers.

2) It gives roasted coffee to relief oragnizations including Africa Mercy, International Red Cross, and the American Red Cross.

What horrible thing will they do next? I sure hope they don’t try to buy something from me or give me free coffee. Isn’t it enough that they are burdening our troops in Iraq with free coffee also.

do I understand you to be saying that you think perhaps mercy ships should have refused the free coffee from starbucks on moral or ethical grounds?

Are they getting rid of anastasis altogether? was that the original plan with africa mercy, or did that sort of come up last minute?

Seems curious is all–I mean is anastasis falling apart because it’s too old or something? 30 million pounds to build africa mercy, and what happens to all the investment in anastasis? Sounds like a tough decision, whatever it was about.

Nevertheless, Starbucks is a big company so odds are that they are doing simply horrid things. We must stop them immediately.

Clearly their buying things from farmers in Ethiopia is an evil plot to imporverish those same farmers. The farmers will thrive only when Starbucks stops buying their coffee.

I am confused by the OxFam statement since I thought I was buying labor at Starbucks (someone to make a coffee for me). I’ve never bought any green coffee there. The blokes behind the counter actually get $0.30 of every $1 spent there.

I must add that a green coffee coop has purchased several bags of Ethiopian Sidamo for about $3.00 per pound and had it nitrogen sealed and shipped FedEx. I get mine tomorrow This is fair trade!