Starbucks Opens Costa Rican Coffee Farm to Visitors
March 07 2018 - 10:00AM
Business Wire
A 46,000-square foot visitor center immerses
guests in the entire life cycle of sustainably grown, high-quality
arabica coffee from seedling to picking, milling, roasting and the
craft of brewing in a café
Starbucks approach to ethical sourcing and
innovative coffee tree hybrid research also showcased at the
visitor center, part of the company’s $100 million investment in an
open-sourced farmer support program to help make coffee the world’s
first sustainably sourced agriculture product
Today, Starbucks Coffee Company (NASDAQ: SBUX) opens the doors
to its Visitor Center at Hacienda Alsacia, located on the company’s
600-acre (240 hectare) coffee farm on the slopes of the Poas
volcano in Costa Rica. Hacienda Alsacia is a working farm that has
served as a global research and development facility for Starbucks
since 2013. Now open to the public, visitors will have the chance
to experience coffee from seed to cup and see firsthand the
agronomy work the company has been supporting and investing in for
more than two decades.
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Hacienda Alsacia Visitor Center Exterior.
Hacienda Alsacia is a Costa Rican working farm that has served as a
global research and development facility for Starbucks since 2013.
(Photo: Business Wire)
“Much like the premium retail experiences we are designing
around the world, the Visitor Center at Hacienda Alsacia is a fully
immersive space and now, for the first time ever, Starbucks is
connecting our customers to the entire coffee ecosystem from
seedling to the craft of brewing,” said Howard Schultz, Starbucks
executive chairman.
Designed by Starbucks in-house design team known for creating
the “third place” experience in its Starbucks stores and its
premium Reserve Roasteries, this 46,000-square foot Visitor Center
is an experiential environment helping to educate visitors on the
full coffee ecosystem. Visitors can tour the space on their own or
with a guide, discovering everything from a coffee seedling nursery
to a greenhouse with new, disease-resistant coffee varietals,
coffee fields with ripe cherries at harvest, in addition to a wet
mill and drying patio. These hands-on experiences culminate at a
Starbucks café where coffee from Hacienda Alsacia is roasted fresh
onsite and served using multiple brewing methods. The menu is
inspired by Starbucks premium Reserve brand.
“Our farm allows us to learn firsthand the ongoing complexities
that coffee farmers face in order to accelerate our comprehensive
approach to ethical sourcing,” said Kevin Johnson, president and
chief executive officer of Starbucks. “Now more than ever, we must
ensure the future of coffee through sustainable practices so that
it is available for generations to come.”
Over the last two decades, Starbucks has developed its approach
to ethical sourcing with Conservation International. During this
time, the company has achieved significant milestones
including:
- Verifying 99% of Starbucks coffee as
ethically sourced as of 2015
- Creating a farmer support center
network in nine locations around the world, each of which provides
on-the-ground agronomy support for all coffee farmers, whether
Starbucks purchases from them or not
- Donating thousands of seedlings from
five different coffee tree hybrids developed through its research
with ICAFE, Costa Rica’s coffee institute
- Donating 30 million rust-resistant
coffee trees with a goal of 100 million distributed by 2025
- Financing a Global Farmer Fund that
will provide $50 million in short- and long-term farmer loans, with
more than $22 million distributed to date
All this work is in support of the goal to make coffee the
world’s first sustainably sourced agricultural product. In 2015,
Starbucks became a founding member of the Sustainable Coffee
Challenge, a growing coalition of more than 90 diverse industry,
NGO and government organizations led by Conservation International.
The Sustainable Coffee Challenge is convening the sector to sustain
the future supply of coffee while helping to ensure the prosperity
and well-being of farmers and workers and conserving forests, water
and soil.
“The coffee we drink depends on the well-being of 25 million
coffee producers, 10 million hectares of coffee farms and the
continued ability of nature to sustain them,” said Dr. M. Sanjayan,
chief executive officer for Conservation International. “To meet
projected demand, the industry will need to produce between four
million and 14 million additional tons of coffee per year. Unless
growers can significantly increase coffee productivity, the
industry would need to double the area under production. This would
increase the current area of land under coffee production,
currently about the size of Iceland, to an area that would be four
times the size of Costa Rica.”
Since 2012, Starbucks has been operating stores in Costa Rica
with its license partner, Premium Restaurants of America, now with
11 stores in addition to our Farmer Support Center and Visitor
Center. Costa Rican coffee has been a part of Starbucks core
offerings since it opened its doors in 1971, most recently a
limited-edition offering of Hacienda Alsacia single-origin packaged
coffee for customers around the world.
About Starbucks
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to
ethically sourcing and roasting high-quality arabica coffee. Today,
with more than 27,000 stores around the globe, Starbucks is the
premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world.
Through our unwavering commitment to excellence and our guiding
principles, we bring the unique Starbucks Experience to life for
every customer through every cup. To share in the experience,
please visit our stores or online at news.starbucks.com and
Starbucks.com.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180307005377/en/
Starbucks Coffee CompanyHaley Drage,
206-318-7100press@starbucks.com
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