First of all- I am SO over the Starbucks Coffee Cup Scandal.
I need to ask, what is WRONG with us as human beings that we can get SO upset over a Coffee Company's choice of holiday cup.
Why do we as Christians feel persecuted when others don't celebrate the same holiday that WE do? Why can't we simply celebrate with those we love in a quiet, humble, loving way- instead of angrily trying to shove our Blessed Holiday down everyone else's throats?
I suppose that is a post for another day.
THIS post is about why I see red when I see a Starbucks cup- of ANY colour.
Instead of getting angry that the cup doesn't celebrate our holiday enough- why aren't we FURIOUS that Starbucks and other coffee companies like them are making billions off the blood and sweat of poverty-stricken coffee farmers?
Where is our outrage that coffee prices dropped to a 19 month low in August 2015 (according to the International Coffee Organization), yet the price of your daily caffeine-fix continues to rise?
Who do you think is pocketing that extra cash?
Who do you think SHOULD be making a decent wage? The CEO sitting at his comfy desk, or the coffee bean farmer working the land to support his family and to send his children to school?
In case any of you are under the illusion that Starbucks serves fairtrade coffee- Starbucks reports that 90% of it's coffee is sourced from their Coffee And Farmer Equity Program (C.A.F.E.) and that only THREE percent is from third party certifiers like Fairtrade International.
THREE percent.
Three.
Remember when I mentioned that coffee prices are at a crisis-level-low? This affects the farmers. This affects them being able to put food on the table. Clothes on their family's backs. Roofs over their heads. When coffee prices go down- so do their already-low wages.
Although C.A.F.E. is a decent system- it is NOT Fairtrade. Fairtrade pays farmers the same value (currently $1.40/ lb- more if is certified organic) which does not rise and fall, no matter what the global markets are doing. Which according to Fairtrade International have dipped to lows of .45/lb in the last 15 years.
So I get upset. I get angry that Starbucks charges $4.00 for a latte and pays pennies to the farmers working the fields to keep them in business.
Why doesn't everyone get angry over this?
Instead of the colour of the cup.
And that is why- no matter WHAT colour the Starbucks cup is at that moment-
I will ALWAYS see red.
I posted on the importance of Fairtrade back in May, 2013- Can You Really Make A Difference With Your Morning Coffee? Please check it out.
Blessings.
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