On its journey to develop a more recyclable and compostable hot cup solution by 2022, Starbucks announced today details for in-market testing of a more sustainable cup technology from the NextGen Cup Challenge. Starting on Monday, March 9th, a new BioPBS™-lined cup will be in circulation in select stores in Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, New York and London.

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The tests are designed to provide key insights and learnings into the partner and customer in-store experience with the goal of no noticeable differences in performance between the new cup and current cup. In addition, in conjunction with Closed Loop Partners, Starbucks is conducting separate tests designed to validate that this particular cup technology can be recycled more readily than the current cup. 

In January, Starbucks <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/starbucks-announces-multi-decade-aspiration-to-become-resource-positive/">announced a multi-decade aspiration</a> to be resource positive, giving more than it takes from the planet. As part of its sustainability commitment, the company is focusing on ways to better manage its waste, both in Starbucks stores and in the communities it serves by ensuring more reuse and recycling.&nbsp;While this cup trial is an exciting step forward, Starbucks will continue to evaluate additional NextGen Cup Challenge winning concepts and cup technologies, as well as learn from other reusable and recyclable innovations to find the most sustainable solutions for its business, partners (employees) and customers.

Update on Starbucks Journey to Find a More Sustainable Cup 

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Starbucks begins trials of recyclable, compostable cup solution in five markets.

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Starbucks trials a NextGen Cup solution

Some of Starbucks’ 100 million tree donation flowers in Guatemala

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For the Pachecos, figuring out how to make it work really didn’t feel like a choice. 

Seven years ago, an outbreak of coffee rust began destroying crops across Central America.

“Leaf rust entered the country of Guatemala in the year 2012,” says Kevin Pacheco, a coffee farmer in the Jalapa region. “Before the rust appeared, we had better coffee plantations, more vigorous. So, it is a big problem.”

“When there is no coffee, there is no business,” says Catalina Pacheco, 72, a second-generation coffee farmer. “It is what gives life to Guatemala.”

Catalina is Kevin’s grandmother. Coffee farming is the family business. So, “we have, over time, been learning,” says Kevin, 22.

Catalina says that she worked in coffee from the time she was young and always wanted to be “a real coffee owner.” She and her husband, Carlos Lima, bought the 12.5-hectare coffee farm that Kevin now farms.

“I learned how to work from them,” says Kevin.

The rust outbreak could have derailed the dream. But instead, Kevin “is having the thrill of his life,” says his grandmother. 

A 2016 donation to the Pacheco farm of 6,000 rust-resistant trees, as part of Starbucks’ One Bag for Every Tree initiative (now the <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2017/starbucks-100million-coffee-trees/">100 Million Trees program</a>), is helping. So far, more than 30 million trees have been donated in Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador This year in Guatemala, the trees produced their very first harvest.

Kevin has stepped wholeheartedly into the role of fourth-generation coffee farmer, and his passion for the work is leading the way for the generation after him to learn alongside him, just as he learned beside his grandparents.

“The idea is to teach the future generations so that they learn how to take care of the coffee, so it doesn’t get lost.”

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Nurturing family, coffee for next generation of farmers - Historias-en

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Nurturing family, coffee for next generation of farmers

Some of Starbucks’ 100 million tree donation flowers in Guatemala.

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Starbucks stores around the world offer a place to connect with loved ones, and with Valentine’s Day around the corner, we put a spotlight on some of the most romantic Starbucks stores in the world. From a castle in Prague to the streets of Paris, these exotic and beautiful Starbucks stores are the perfect backdrop to enjoy coffee for two.

This elegant three-story Starbucks store in Guangzhou, China is designed to embrace coffee, art and local history. The first floor is dedicated to crafting coffee beverages, while the second floor is dedicated to connecting and relaxing, the perfect location for a Valentine’s Day date.

 Fall in love by the beach! The Starbucks store at Curacao Beach Resort is the perfect place to enjoy a Caribbean sunset, with a 360-degree view of the sea. 

Czech Republic – Prague Castle

Live out your own fairytale romance at one of the largest ancient castles in the world. Near the entrance to the historic castle is a Starbucks store with a beautiful panorama of the city. From the stone terrace, you can enjoy a cup of coffee with your special someone viewing the red-tiled roofs and green domes of the city below.

Located near the beautiful Opéra Garnier in the center of Paris, the Starbucks along the Boulevard des Capucines is housed in a structure that dates back more than three centuries. Get to know someone by the light of elegant chandeliers beneath the intricate 19th-century ceiling murals.

Mexico – Prado Norte

If the detailed tile work and Spanish-style architecture of this Mexico City store aren’t enough to make you fall in love, just check out the grand staircase and fountain out front.

Morocco – Villa Casablanca

This location combines modernist design with Moroccan and French influences with spaces to appeal to groups of friends, families, singles and couples with canopied banquet-lounge group seating and European alfresco style arrangements. It’s the perfect place to listen to the bubbling fountains and imagine yourself in your own 1940’s romance.

Turkey – Kadiköy

Watch the hustle and bustle of ferries crossing Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait from the rooftop deck of the three-story Kadikoy Starbucks store. The store takes inspiration from the aesthetic of the boats and the ferry buildings, with local marble, brass details, terrazzo flooring and a teak-like iroko wood.

United States – Reserve Roastery New York

This newly opened store in the heart of New York’s Meatpacking District is the pinnacle experience around all-things-coffee, from small-batch roasting to single-cup brewing. On the Mezzanine level the mixology bar, Arriviamo serves coffee and tea-infused craft cocktails. Sip on signature cocktails like the Nocino Notte, while overlooking the Roastery below. 

The most romantic Starbucks stores around the world - Historias-en

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The most romantic Starbucks stores around the world

From a castle in Prague to the streets of Paris, these exotic and beautiful Starbucks stores are the perfect backdrop to enjoy coffee for two.

https://historias.starbucks.com/en-es/stories/2019/the-most-romantic-starbucks-stores-around-the-world/

The new Starbucks Signing Store in Washington, D.C., is led by a diverse team of employees who are all fluent in American Sign Language (ASL).

The store, the first of its kind in the United States, is down the street from Gallaudet University, a bilingual (English and ASL) institution for Deaf and hard of hearing students. It was inspired by a similar store in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that opened in 2016 with nine Deaf partners.

The infrastructure and experiences in the new Washington, D.C., Signing Store were designed to create a melding of worlds and the best possible experience for partners and customers alike, whether they are Deaf, hard of hearing or hearing.

Here are eight things to know about the new Starbucks Signing Store.

Just inside the doors of the new Signing Store is a mural created by <a href="http://yiqiaowang.com/index.html">Yiqiao Wang</a>, a deaf artist and adjunct professor at Gallaudet University. The mural includes a host of letters, signs and symbols representing English, ASL, Deaf culture and coffee. “In the center of the piece, you can see two very strong hands, arms raised up, rising from the bottom of the artwork,” Wang said. “Deaf people can see that. It means community in ASL, and bringing various backgrounds, languages and people all together.”&nbsp;

In 2005, the ASL Deaf Studies Department at Gallaudet University and architect Hansel Bauman created the DeafSpace Project, cataloguing design elements that address major aspects of the Deaf experience with the built environment, including space and proximity, sensory reach, mobility and proximity, light and color and acoustics.&nbsp; The new Signing Store incorporates aspects of DeafSpace, including an open environment for communication and low-glare surfaces.&nbsp;

All store partners are proficient in ASL, whether they are hearing, hard of hearing or Deaf. However, Deaf partners at the Signing Store wear special green aprons – created by a Deaf supplier – embroidered with the ASL finger-spelling of Starbucks.

There are several hearing partners on the team at the new Signing Store, and all are fluent in ASL. Hearing partners wear traditional green aprons with “I Sign” pins, which are actually available to any Starbucks partner worldwide with sign language proficiency.

For customers new to sign language, the Signing Store features some high-tech options for assisting with communication, ordering drinks and receiving beverages at the hand-off counter, including digital notepads and a console with two-way keyboards for back-and-forth typed conversations.

For hearing customers who don’t know ASL – even those just ducking in to grab a cup of coffee to go – the Signing Store offers an opportunity to learn something. Maybe it’s how to sign a word like espresso in ASL, from the chalkboard above the register with the “sign of the week.” Or maybe it’s a little insight into the Deaf experience or Deaf culture, like seeing the way Deaf partners interact with each other, or being a hearing customer able to communicate with partners and order a beverage without speaking a word.&nbsp;

The Signing Store features a special mug designed by Deaf artist <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jenafloydart/">Jena Floyd</a>, who grew up in Kentucky. “I'm still pinching myself that my work on the mug will be seen by the public -- especially with the exposure from Starbucks,” Floyd said. “Also, I'm so excited to see the first Signing Store here in America -- especially with the design inside the store that's Deaf-friendly, staff that use ASL, and artwork by Deaf artists. This is something tangible we as Deaf people can show what we're capable of as contributing citizens of our society.”

On the sidewalk outside the new Signing Store, custom umbrellas give the first hint the Starbucks near the intersection of 6th and H streets in Washington, D.C., is a different kind of store. They feature the company name as well as ASL finger-spelling of the company name.

Starbucks Signing Store in Washington, D.C.

The Starbucks Signing Store in Washington, D.C., is the first of its kind in the nation. Here’s what to look for when you visit.

Eight things to know about the new Starbucks Signing Store

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After Hurricane Maria came and went at the farm owned by Erica Reyes’ parents in the lush interior of Puerto Rico, more than 95 percent of the coffee crop was gone. Hardy coffee trees were split in two. Others lay sprawled in the dirt. “It was like a bomb went off,” says Reyes, who helps run the farm and operates a barista training school in San Juan.

The devastation at Hacienda Moraika was so widespread that Reyes and her parents, like many other Puerto Rican coffee farmers, couldn’t find seeds to start anew. They decided they wouldn’t replant unless they could source quality seeds, which seemed improbable — until now.

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Erica Reyes

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In a show of solidarity and support for rejuvenating Puerto Rico’s once-thriving coffee industry, Starbucks announced Tuesday that it is donating 2 million disease-resilient seeds to help farmers on the hurricane-ravaged island reboot the coffee industry.&nbsp;

In addition, The Starbucks Foundation and the Fonalledas Foundation (part of Starbucks’ licensing partner in Puerto Rico) are partnering with World Coffee Research, a nonprofit committed to enhancing quality coffee production, to improve coffee seed quality and create a more sustainable future for Puerto Rican coffee farmers.

“We have an opportunity and a responsibility to be part of creating a future for coffee farmers in Puerto Rico,” said&nbsp;Michelle Burns, Starbucks’ senior vice president, Global Coffee &amp; Tea. “Providing seeds may sound simple, but that’s what gets directly to the farmer. It’s the purest example of our ability to have a direct impact.”

Starbucks has partnered to form a task force of farmers, officials, academics and non-profits, including Hispanic Federation founder Luis Miranda. "My family loves coffee.&nbsp;Coffee has been part of Puerto Rico’s agricultural heritage for centuries," Miranda said. "After Maria razed coffee plantations on the island, we must work harder to rebuild the sector smartly, resiliently and profitably for small farmers. The collaboration among Starbucks, coffee growers, Hispanic Federation and other non-profits as well as Lin-Manuel and our family, is an important step in this rebirth."

The commitment builds upon the company’s history of supporting communities hit hard by disaster or political conflict. Starbucks worked with&nbsp;Eastern Congo Initiative to piece Congo’s coffee industry back together after decades of conflict. The company supports farmers in Colombia who used to grow coca, fueling illicit drug trade, but want to<a href="https://news.starbucks.com/news/starbucks-support-to-colombian-coffee-farmers"> transition to growing coffee</a>. And it established the <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/press-releases/starbucks-100million-coffee-trees">100 Million Trees program</a> to help farmers in Latin America combat coffee leaf rust, a fungus known as roya that has affected millions of trees worldwide, causing a decline in coffee production. By 2025, Starbucks intends to donate 100 million coffee trees to help farmers replace disease-ridden trees with, rust-resistant ones. Thirty million have been planted so far.

“This is something in our DNA,” said&nbsp;Kelly Goodejohn, director of Starbucks’ ethical sourcing program. “We have rallied in other circumstances, following earthquakes in Guatemala and Mexico, and after civil conflicts, to support coffee. This is just another example of how we show up.”

Task force is working together to help the coffee industry recover

Last fall, Starbucks commissioned World Coffee Research to survey hurricane-related <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/news/puerto-ricos-coffee-industry-slowly-takes-root-again">damage sustained by Puerto Rican coffee farms</a>. The coffee industry estimates that 80&nbsp;percent of the island’s coffee trees were devastated by the harsh winds and flooding – about 18 million trees. Altogether, the lost beans and trees amounted to $18 million in damage.

Even those trees that were spared and left standing need some rehabilitation if they are to produce coffee in the future. To that end, Goodejohn has made multiple trips to Puerto Rico since the hurricane to launch a task force of farmers, roasters, agriculture officials, non-profits and academics from the University of Puerto Rico, keeping the task force moving forward in its mission to assist the coffee industry with rebuilding and recovery efforts.

It hasn’t been easy finding the right seeds to replant. Because the hurricane destroyed so much of the island’s coffee infrastructure, the 2 million seeds that Starbucks is donating are not the Limani or Fronton varietals native to Puerto Rico. The future of those two types of coffee trees are in doubt.

In fact, in many coffee-producing countries, farmers often are unable to guarantee that the variety they are planting is truly the one that they think it is. This leads to a mix of local varieties on the fields with different levels of productivity and disease tolerance.&nbsp; World Coffee Research tested the genetic purity of Puerto Rico’s local seed varieties. “Now we are preparing new seed lots for the future,” said&nbsp;Kraig Kraft, global programs director at World Coffee Research. A seed lot is a parcel of plants designated specifically for the purpose of producing coffee seeds.

When faced with piecing back together a country’s entire coffee crop, a single seed lot won’t do the trick. To kickstart the process, researchers selected a genetically similar variety from Mexico called Marsellesa, produced by a nursery that can genetically verify that the seedlings are true to type. It is resistant to rust, giving the seeds a leg up in a climate that is no stranger to rust invasions.

There is some trepidation within Puerto Rico about starting anew and welcoming a new coffee varietal to the island, but there is little choice. Quarantining the seeds will ensure that no new pests are introduced to the island. “We are hoping that this is the catalyst that helps restart the seed sector in Puerto Rico,” says Kraft.

A potential renaissance for Puerto Rican coffee

If the vision is successful, Puerto Rico’s coffee industry could experience a renaissance. Currently, Starbucks buys from just one farm on the island, Hacienda San Pedro, which is verified as <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/news/sustainability-is-at-the-heart-of-starbucks-coffee-sourcing">C.A.F.É. Practices</a>, the company’s quality and sustainability standards for growing practices, sustainability and processing.

But Starbucks would like to support more farmers in reaching that goal. “The coffee we buy in Puerto Rico is served locally,” said&nbsp;Goodejohn. “There is a real sense of pride for partners and customers who can come in and taste the high-quality coffee coming off the island. We are trying to preserve that and to build upon it.”

The 2 million seeds are just a portion of the 20 million needed to fully rebuild the industry in Puerto Rico. But Puerto Rican greenhouses don’t even have enough capacity to germinate all 2 million seeds at once. They will be germinated in phases, says Kraft.

Starting from scratch also offers the opportunity to retrain farmers in best practices for coffee-growing. World Coffee Research will provide training in technical and operational practices — choosing the right kind of soil, for example, or leaving the correct amount of space between seedlings when planting new fields.

But before they can lay seedlings in the ground, farmers will have to be patient. The seeds have a months-long journey ahead of them. They are expected to arrive this month in Puerto Rico, where they will be quarantined until the Department of Agriculture signs off that they are healthy and pest-free. The department’s Secretary, Carlos Flores Ortega, is rooting for the quarantine process to go smoothly. “The support from Starbucks will help in the recovery of the trees lost during the hurricane and reestablish coffee production in Puerto Rico,” he said.

As the seeds are being quarantined in nurseries for five months, they will germinate into seedlings and will undergo hardening, a process in which they’re gradually moved outdoors to be exposed to sun, wind, rain and outdoor temperatures. Only then will they be distributed to&nbsp;primarily smallholder farmers to plant come springtime 2019.

At that point, gratification is still many months away. It takes about three years for a coffee tree to become fertile and start producing quality coffee seeds. “A lot of TLC goes into this,” said&nbsp;Virginia Rivera, marketing director for Starbucks Puerto Rico. “The sooner we get the seeds to farmers, the sooner we can rebuild the local coffee industry.”

In the months after Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc, the Puerto Rican countryside was a mass of upturned, tangled roots and blue-tarped roofs, power lines dangling limply. Now, the land is already healing itself. “It looked post-nuclear,” said&nbsp;Rivera. “Now everything is beautiful and green again. Nature is really forgiving. I am hoping as Puerto Ricans we are as resilient as the land.”

Reyes, whose family farm awaits distribution of seeds, believes her fellow islanders are as resilient as they come. Despite the devastation wrought by Maria, Puerto Ricans are committed to reinvigorating the coffee industry, excited at the chance to begin again. “Our people on the farm are ready,” Reyes said. “We just want good seeds so we can start over. Of course I wish the hurricane didn’t happen, but now we have an opportunity to rebuild better than before.”

After Hurricane Maria destroyed the island’s coffee crop, recovery has been uncertain. Starbucks is donating 2 million coffee seeds to rebuild Puerto Rico's coffee industry.

Starbucks donates 2M coffee seeds to rebuild Puerto Rico

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Starbucks donates 2 million coffee seeds to rebuild Puerto Rico’s coffee industry

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Por Bonnie Rochman/ Historias de Starbucks

HACIENDA ALSACIA, COSTA RICA –&nbsp;They came from around the world, some speaking Spanish, others Mandarin, Kinyarwandan, Bahasa Indonesian and a host of other languages – but all were drawn together by the common language of coffee.

Starbucks agronomists and quality specialists visit a farm in the Terrazu region of Costa Rica

Earlier this month, more than a dozen agronomists from <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/facts/starbucks-farmer-support-centers">Starbucks Farmer Support Centers</a>&nbsp;in Guatemala, Rwanda, Tanzania, Colombia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Mexico and China as well as suppliers gathered in Costa Rica at Starbucks global research and agronomy center for a conference.

&nbsp;“We wanted to exchange information and support each other – and also show them what we are doing at the farm,” said Carlos Mario Rodriguez, who is the director of global agronomy at Starbucks.

Starbucks quality specialist Camila Morales of Colombia examines coffee trees

Starbucks opened its first Farmer Support Center in 2004 nearby in downtown San José, working one-on-one with farmers in the field as it launched its groundbreaking C.A.F.E. (Coffee and Farmer Equity) Practices verification program. In the years that followed, seven other farmer support centers, plus a satellite center, opened. In 2013 its original Costa Rica agronomy office relocated up into the slopes of the Poas Volcano to a working coffee farm, <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/news/starbucks-farm-research-and-innovation">Hacienda Alsacia</a>. Starbucks global support network helps coffee farmers improve the quality and profitability of their crops for all coffee farmers who want help, not only those who sell coffee to Starbucks.

“The company allows us to support farmers and help them for free,” Rodriquez said. “You are able to improve their living conditions. You can see these changes and solve problems.”

Starbucks director of global agronomy, Carlos Mario Rodriguez, talks about young trees at Hacienda Alsacia

During the conference, held the week of Aug. 6, agronomists communicated through a combination of interpreters, their understanding of English and a shared passion for coffee. This was the second conference of its kind for Starbucks, said Rodriquez.

Each day, agronomists gave presentations on best practices on their own countries – being teachers for each other. “Coffee is a very unique crop. An agronomist working in Costa Rica knows almost nothing about coffee farmers in Ethiopia,” said Rodriquez.

The agronomists discussed larger issues, such as climate change. They visited a micro farm, as well as a large commercial farm. The walked down the “streets” of Starbucks Costa Rican coffee farm, the company’s only coffee farm in the world– Hacienda Alsacia -- created for research and development on the slopes of the Poas Volcano. They paused to let dirt crumble between their fingers and, see the coffee trees with their ripening cherries.

Starbucks agronomists examine coffee trees

They also toured Hacienda Alsacia’s<a href="https://news.starbucks.com/news/creating-starbucks-visitor-center-at-hacienda-alsacia"> newly opened visitor center </a>where guests can follow coffee’s journey from bean to cup. From the visitor center’s café, where baristas handcraft beverages, they can look out across the lush green valley, past the waterfall and to the top of a hill to see the Farmer’s Support Center, the scope of where that cup of coffee begins and where it ends.

For Rodriquez and others, each cup represents farmers around the world who grew them, the seeds, the trees they helped plant with their own hands, the ancient tradition and art of growing this specialized crop – and their shared bond of coffee, drawing the world a little closer together.

Coffee cherries ripen in the Costa Rican sun

”I really, really enjoy drinking coffee,” said Rodriquez. “It’s the best of times when I can be with my family and drink coffee in the afternoons.”

Starbucks Newsroom’s Linda Dahlstrom contributed to this report.

Agronomists from Starbucks Farmer Support Centers from nine countries gathered in Puerto Rico for a conference to share their experiences and learn from each other.

Common language of coffee draws agronomists around the world

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Common language of coffee draws agronomists from around the world

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Coffee is at our heart, inspiring our craft and driving innovation—in our drinks, our food, our stores and new ways we bring the Starbucks experience to you wherever you are.

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Our vision for the future is to become resource positive—giving back more than we take from the planet. And we know we can’t do it alone. It takes all of us.

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Our aspiration is to be people positive—investing in humanity and the well-being of everyone we connect with, from our partners to coffee farmers to the customers in our stores and beyond.