On National Coffee Day, Starbucks Wants Customers to Know Exactly Where and Who Their Coffee Comes From

Starbucks is making two coffee education resources available to the public for the very first time. 

Starbucks has always known the farmers who grow its coffee and, starting today, Canadian customers can know them, too, and enroll in an academic course to build their knowledge of one of the world’s most beloved beverages. The company is launching the Starbucks Digital Traceability tool, an online platform that lets customers follow a variety of Starbucks coffees to their origin and the journey from bean to cup, and for the first time, will make its Coffee Academy academic course available for free to Canadians.

New Digital Traceability Tool

Behind each cup of Starbucks coffee are 400,000 farmers and their communities. With Starbucks new Digital Traceability tool, customers can digitally connect to more than 200 of these farms and farmers and follow the journey of Starbucks coffee from the first 10 feet at origin to the last 10 feet in stores. In 2015, Starbucks became the largest coffee retailer to achieve 99 per cent ethically sourced coffee. Traceability – knowing the exact journey Starbucks coffee has taken from the farmers who cultivated it to where it was roasted – has always been a requirement of Starbucks Coffee And Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices, the company’s ethical sourcing standards.

Using the tool is simple. With a mobile device or laptop, go to traceability.starbucks.com to scan or enter the number on the back of any bag of whole bean coffee at Starbucks stores in Canada or the U.S. The mobile web app will take you to explore the growing regions where the coffee beans are sourced and roasted, and how it becomes the Starbucks coffee you know and love. (Although fun, it’s not mandatory to scan a bag of coffee in order to use the tool to get to know farmers or explore the world’s coffee-growing origins – you can visit the mobile web app and explore anytime.)

Starbucks Coffee Academy

In 2019, Starbucks and Arizona State University announced the Starbucks Coffee Academy program – a comprehensive program and way for Starbucks partners (employees) to learn about coffee, building on all of the coffee education the company has developed over the last 49 years. Starbucks Coffee Academy is just one of the programs available on Starbucks Global Academy platform and includes basic, mid-level and advanced coffee courses and customers can enroll online, at no cost. Starbucks Coffee Academy offers three levels:

Level 100 – The essentials: where and how coffee grows; the importance of ethical sourcing; geography; roasting and blending; brew methods; and flavour profiles.

Level 200 – Explore what influences a coffee’s flavour, from growing and processing to roasting and blending; how Starbucks makes certain that all its coffee is purchased ethically; and the teams in place to ensure quality from farm to cup.

Level 300 – Celebrating the art and craft of coffee. Learn about what creates coffee flavours and aromas and how we perceive them. Dive deeper into the ways that coffee is brewed every day in Starbucks stores and how we ensure and maintain our utmost quality. Travel farther into the craft of latte art and share new techniques to skillfully and beautifully combine espresso and steamed milk.

Coffee and the farms and farmers who grow it will always be at the heart of Starbucks.

To learn more, please visit Starbucks Digital Traceability tool and Starbucks Coffee Academy. For detailed instructions on how to sign up for free and access Starbucks Coffee Academy courses, click here.