As a film about coffee exploitation launches, jonathan foreman defends public enemy No. 1 |
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One of the centrepieces of next month's Times BFI 50th London Film Festival, announced tomorrow, will be Black Gold, a British documentary about the exploitation of Third World coffee growers.
Although the film contains no specific indictment of Starbucks, the coffee store chain has already felt it necessary to respond, saying it's proud of how it buys its coffee beans and that it's leading the way to change how coffee is purchased.
How ironic that Starbucks should become a middle-class bogeyman. You'd be hard pressed to find a more ethical company than the hippie Seattle chain that has brought cappuccino to the masses, greater rewards to coffee farmers, youth employment and higher standards to the high street.
Except in the ritziest areas, the arrival of a Starbucks branch is cause for celebration. Contrary to myth, the places Starbucks |
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| You’d be hard pressed to find a more ethical company than the hippie Seattle chain |
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puts out of business aren't wonderful little family-owned Italian cafes - they've actually done better under the Starbucks revolution - but dreadful 'caffs' serving dishwater coffee.
Starbucks' standards of cleanliness, staff training and product freshness have forced competitors to raise their game. One pioneering innovation after another - comfy armchairs, mood music, heat sleeves on paper cups, frappucinos - has been adopted by the chain's imitators and competitors.
Twenty years ago, you could hardly find a decent espresso anywhere in Britain. Without Starbucks there would be no Costa Coffee nor Caffe Nero (my favourite - it has less bitter roast than Starbucks).
Starbucks is hated because it is successful and because it has democratised proper coffee. Builders come in to my local branch, not because they can't brew tea on site, but because the delights of the bean are now widely known. If it offends snobs that navvies have discovered their formerly recherche pleasure, it's too bad. 
FIRST POSTED SEPTEMBER 14, 2006
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