Willard (Dub) Hay: Sourcing coffee from tree to cup

Ary Hermawan , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 05/16/2008 12:41 PM | People

If you look into the past, you will find that the Muslim world not only brought Greek philosophy to the Western world, it also brought coffee.

Perhaps the most exotic of all beverages, coffee was used in religious ceremonies in ancient Africa before it was later banned by a Christian church that regarded it as "a Muslim drink".

Coffee was also banned by the Ottoman empire in the 17th century, as it was associated with defiant political activities in Europe.

The word "coffee" is derived from the Italian word caf*, which in turn comes from the Turkish word kahveh. It is thought that the Turks adopted the word from the Arabs, who named the dark beverage quhwah, which originated from Kaffa, the ancient coffee-producing region of eastern Ethiopia.

Today, coffee is one of the most globally consumed beverages. And just like it was hundreds of years ago, it is shrouded in controversy -- which, although is no longer driven by irrational political or theological reasons, may still help discern the benefits and discontents of globalization.

The modern-day coffee controversy involves the impact of the coffee business on the lives of the farmers who grow the product and the environment where it is grown.

Many people hold the view that a hot cup of coffee from a gourmet caf* is served on the backs of poorly paid and maltreated farmers, and involves the clearing of forests.

Willard (Dub) Hay, senior vice president of the coffee department and green coffee functions of American coffee retailer Starbucks Coffee Company, is trying to change that perception by making the coffee industry socially and environmentally sustainable.

And he is happy with the efforts he has made toward realizing this over the last five years with the company.

Hay is considered one of the world's foremost coffee experts; traveling more than 100,000 miles each year to source coffee. Before joining Starbucks in 2002, he had worked as a coffee expert for UBS Paine Webber, Merrill Lynch, Nestle and Proctor & Gamble Co.

At Starbucks, Hay is not only responsible for ensuring the quality of the coffee the company sells, but also oversees the way coffee is obtained so that farmers are not victimized and the environment is not destroyed in the process.

Under Hay's leadership, Starbucks -- together with Conservation International, an environmental NGO, and Scientific Certification Systems, a third-party evaluation and certification system -- has developed what it calls C.A.F.E. (Coffee and Farmer Equity) Practices.

"We asked for their (the NGOs) input on how we can be a better buyer of coffee, so that we can see the workers that work in the coffee fields in a better shape than they were, and the environment in a better way than we found it," he told The Jakarta Post.

C.A.F.E. Practices is an incentive-based performance system that gives purchasing preference to coffee suppliers of green coffee grown, processed and traded in an environmentally, socially and economically responsible way, the company briefly said in a press release.

"The program benefits the farmer (in a way) that they end up growing more sustainable crops ... the soil fertility of their farm is better, the yields are higher, which means they get better income out of the same amount of land, and (more) importantly they can also perhaps look forward to having a long-term contract with Starbucks, which allows them to go to the banks and get some money," Hay said.

More than 60 percent (about 103 million kilograms) of the coffee that Starbucks bought last year was purchased under C.A.F.E. practices.

"The program has evolved over the years," he said.

Hay leads an elite team of Starbucks coffee buyers that spends more than 200 days each year traveling to corners of the globe where coffee is grown.

Hay was in Jakarta recently to celebrate the sixth anniversary of the first Starbucks outlet in Indonesia -- located at Plaza Indonesia.

However, it was not his first visit here. As a seasoned coffee taster -- a job he calls "exciting" -- Hay has a lot to say about the third-largest coffee-producing country in the world.

"I have been traveling to Indonesia for 30 years, I have been to many islands," said Hay, who can tell the origin of coffee simply by smelling it.

"It has flavors that ranges everywhere from earthy to cedar to tobacco to spicy to cardamon. There is a big bowl of flavors, which is what we like about (Indonesian coffees). It's very unique. There is no other place in the world that produces this kind of flavor.

"You go to Latin America or go to east Africa, they are completely different. They are more herbal, lemony, nothing like this. This is a big bowl of coffee we love, our partners love them ... Howard Schultz's favorite coffee in the world is an aged Sumatra coffee," he said as he described Indonesia's coffee varieties.

Indonesian coffee, he said, had become "the backbone" of many things the company did to entice its customers.

"We use it as a single origin and in some of our popular blends, in particular the Christmas and Anniversary blends. This coffee is like the backbone of a lot that we do. You should be proud of this coffee," he said.

Starbucks is the fastest-growing chain of global coffee retailers, with about 7,000 retail outlets in the world. According to John Culver, the Starbucks president for Asia-Pacific, there are currently 1,500 Starbucks stores in the region, 63 of which are located in Indonesia.

The company symbolizes the ascendancy of globalization -- which makes it an easy target for cynicism and criticism by anti-globalization activists -- and represents the enduring appeal of the age-old coffee culture.

Despite increases in global fuel prices, declining purchasing power in many countries and fierce competition from other players that offer cheaper coffee, the company is upbeat that coffee aficionados will come to the store for the "Starbucks experience".

Hay said there was a "huge differentiation" between Starbucks and its competitors; mainly in relation to what he and his team do for the company.

"Most of them (the competitors) do not control their own coffee. They buy it roasted from someone else.

"We go the origin, meet the farmers, buy the coffee, roast the coffee, ship it to our stores fresh and hand it to the customers. Our supply chain goes from tree to cup."

Comments (0) | Post comment

A | A | A |