News: Starbucks to source more coffee

(BL 25/02/2007) Mumbai - Global coffee retail giant Starbucks expects to source more from India as it ups its operations here. Starbucks, which has tied up with Planet Retail Holdings, would be launching its first retail outlet in India by the year-end, said the company's Director of Trading and Operations, Colman Cuff.

Starbucks has been sourcing coffee from growers such as Tata Coffee and exporting firms such as Ramesh Exports among others for the past three years. "We expect our sourcing to grow along with us here," he said. However, Cuff declined to comment on the quantity of beans sourced from India.

Further, Cuff said they did not boast of being a large buyer, but personally visited the farms in 28 countries to hand-pick high quality seeds that suited Starbucks' roasting style. "We buy quality coffee first that differentiates us from others. We are the largest purchaser, roaster and distributor of Fair Trade Certified Coffee in North America and we are the only licensed company to sell Fair Trade Certified coffee in 24 countries. On an average, we sample around 400 to 500 seeds every day at our Research Centre to give something more to our customers."