Starbucks Steals Oldest Coffee Names

Starbucks Steals Oldest Coffee Names
Starbucks Steals Oldest Coffee Names
The Reverend and the Choir at the Astor Place Starbucks
We have discovered that Starbucks is blocking Ethiopia's attempt to trademark the names of its own ancient coffees. "Sidamo" is one.  Starbucks advertises that its Sidamo brand hails from "The Birthplace of Coffee" and makes a nostalgic portrait of how it is cultivated in "small backyard gardens."  In fact, Ethiopian coffee workers are starving.

The Wall Street-controlled coffee market tanked in 2002, but now the low coffee prices that local farmers fetch at auction have become permanent.  With Starbucks selling between only 3 and 4% Fair Trade Certified coffee in the Unites States market, it is fair to say that billionaire Howard Schultz "doesn't pay for his coffee..."

Let's be straightforward: this coffee economy brings all the income to Starbucks, only giving farmers charity and loans exploited in LOOK WE'RE SO NICE advertising campaigns.

On February 3, 2007, we met at Astor Place, NYC to sing and find the rhythm of the coffee gods, then proceeded to the cash registers of Starbucks, the sinning Devil...  On the eve of this action, "Stop Shopping Church" members were just returning from the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya.  With this congregation of wonderful souls in mind, we are all the more fully committed to -- Stop Our Shopping!
 Click Here for compiled information on Starbucks' Sidamo stonewalling.