Farmer Support Centers

We Help Ensure Coffee’s Future, Farm by Farm 

        The journey a coffee bean follows from farm to cup is an arduous one. It usually begins high in the hills of the Coffee Belt, a band that wraps around the Earth’s middle between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Bucket by bucket, the beans are hand-picked and processed before trundling down winding roads to cargo ships destined for roasting plants and cafés around the worldThe journey a coffee bean follows from farm to cup is an arduous one. It usually begins high in the hills of the Coffee Belt, a band that wraps around the Earth’s middle between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Bucket by bucket, the beans are hand-picked and processed before trundling down winding roads to cargo ships destined for roasting plants and cafés around the world.

     To get the best beans, buyers from Starbucks have travelled to the source since the first store opened back in 1971. They journeyed to far-flung farms in places in Latin America, Asia and East Africa, taking time to get to know farmers and their communities along the way.

     When Starbucks launched its C.A.F.E. Practices sustainable sourcing program in 2004, the company knew that building on these personal relationships would be critical to the program’s success. It opened its first Farmer Support Center that same year in San José, Costa Rica, and hired a team of agronomists to bring farmers into the program.


   ‘It means commitment’: Experience coffee at “the first 10 feet” in Indonesia, our partners also reflect on alongside the hundreds of Starbucks partners who've been chosen to take part in Origin Experiences. It’s about more than just farming, in addition to doing the important work of connecting and collaborating with farmers, We immerse with our Farmer Support Centers who also cultivate relationships with coffee exporters. We open and continuously proud to have Farmer Support Center in Indonesia (2015).