Starbucks Selling Non-Colombian Coffee in Bogota Riles Farmers
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Starbucks Corp. is under fire from Colombian farmers and an opposition lawmaker for offering foreign coffee at its Bogota stores after pledging to serve “100 percent locally-sourced” brew in the Andean nation.
When it opened its flagship outlet in the capital last July, the company said its Colombia stores would be “the first anywhere in the world to serve exclusively locally-sourced Starbucks coffee,” as well as “whole bean packaged coffee from other markets around the world.” Yet the Seattle-based company also serves cups of coffee from Guatemala, Kenya, Panama and Hawaii at its Bogota stores, frustrating local growers.