10.10.2005 ET

(CSRwire) SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 10, 2005--To support Fair Trade Month 2005 and raise awareness of its new Fair Trade Certified(TM)coffee, Starbucks Coffee Company (Nasdaq:SBUX) will feature new Cafe Estima Blend(TM) as "Coffee of the Week" this week in thousands of Company-operated stores across the United States and Canada. The offering will coincide with Fair Trade Month (October 1-31), which is being organized by TransFair USA in an effort to bring attention to critical social and economic issues facing coffee farmers.

"Cafe Estima Blend is a complex coffee with a dark roast, so it's delicious when brewed in an automatic drip coffee maker and when prepared using an espresso machine," said Dub Hay, Starbucks senior vice president, Coffee and Global Procurement. "I am proud that this versatile coffee is available not only in our coffeehouses, but in many other distribution channels, such as college campuses and grocery stores."

A blend of washed coffees from Latin America and East Africa, Cafe Estima Blend will be brewed daily as the bold offering in participating Starbucks Company-operated retail stores from October 10 -- 16. Stores involved in the "Coffee of the Week" program are requested to brew Cafe Estima Blend during business hours for seven consecutive days.

This year, Starbucks will purchase 10 million pounds of Fair Trade Certified coffee, making it North America's largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified coffee. Next year, the company plans to purchase 12 million pounds of Fair Trade Certified coffee. Starbucks is the only company certified to sell Fair Trade Certified coffee in 23 countries.

In addition to offering Cafe Estima Blend in Company-operated and licensed locations throughout North America, Starbucks offers five different offerings of Fair Trade Certified coffee to its Foodservice customers, such as college campuses, restaurants and hotels. Licensed stores on college and university campuses will offer Cafe Estima Blend and Decaf Fair Trade Blend on a daily basis beginning this fall. Starbucks also sells three varieties of Fair Trade Certified coffees through its alliance with Costco Wholesale and will offer Cafe Estima Blend through grocery and club stores in North America in early 2006.
Additionally, U.S. Barnes & Noble cafes serving Starbucks coffee will serve Cafe Estima Blend on a daily basis as one of several featured coffees. Cafe Estima Blend whole bean coffee is $9.95 U.S./$14.65 CAN per pound.

"Starbucks and the Fair Trade movement share common goals -- to ensure coffee farmers receive a fair price for their coffee and that they can sustain their farms into the future," continues Hay. "Purchasing Fair Trade Certified coffee is one of several ways we seek to ensure the economic sustainability of small-scale coffee farmers and ensure the long-term supply of high quality coffee."

Starbucks has developed an integrated approach to building mutually beneficial relationships with coffee farmers and their communities, including paying premium prices to help coffee farmers make profits and support their families; encouraging participation in C.A.F.E. Practices (Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices), a set of socially responsible coffee buying guidelines; providing access to affordable credit to coffee farmers through various loan funds so that farmers can invest in their farms and their success into the future; investing in social development projects in coffee producing countries; purchasing conservation (shade grown) and certified coffees (Fair Trade Certified and certified organic) to promote responsible environmental or economic efforts; and collaborating with farmers through the Farmer Support Center, located in Costa Rica, to provide technical support and training that promotes high-quality, sustainable coffee for the future.

"TransFair applauds Starbucks introduction of Cafe Estima Blend and its decision to expand availability of its Fair Trade Certified coffee offerings," says Paul Rice, Founder and CEO of TransFair USA. "These initiatives will expose more consumers to the great taste of Fair Trade Certified coffee and will also help Fair Trade farmers around the world maintain a decent standard of living."

"Students across the country work with United Students for Fair Trade in support of Fair Trade as a powerful economic alternative that is built on people-to-people relationships," says Haley Mackrow, USFT Northwest Regional Coordinator. "USFT congratulates Starbucks for joining dozens of companies in offering a full line of Fair Trade Certified coffees to college campuses."

Starbucks formed an alliance with TransFair USA in April 2000, and has since become North America's largest roaster and retailer of Fair Trade Certified coffee. Today, Fair Trade Certified coffee is sold in all Starbucks U.S. and Canadian Company-operated stores, some international markets, and available in grocery outlets and foodservice accounts (including airline, hotel and college and university locations).

Starbucks is committed to purchasing all of its coffee in an ethical and sustainable manner. The Company seeks transparency, equity and fairness with all farmers from whom it purchases coffee. It is Starbucks goal to help farmers make a profit and sustain their business for the long term. Beyond purchases of Fair Trade Certified coffee, Starbucks remains committed to paying equitable prices for all of the coffee it buys. In 2004, Starbucks paid an average price of $1.20 per pound for all of its green (unroasted) coffee, excluding freight -- a price 74 percent higher than the average New York "C" commodity market price.

Starbucks Corporation is the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world, with more than 9,500 retail locations in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim. The Company is committed to offering the highest quality coffee and the Starbucks Experience while conducting its business in ways that produce social, environmental and economic benefits for communities in which it does business. In addition to its retail operations, the Company produces and sells bottled Frappuccino(R) coffee drinks, Starbucks DoubleShot(TM) espresso drink, and a line of superpremium ice creams through its joint venture partnerships. The Company's brand portfolio provides a wide variety of consumer products. The Tazo Tea line of innovative premium teas and exceptional Hear Music compact discs enhance the Starbucks Experience through best-of-class products.

Copyright Business Wire 2005

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