Starbucks dubs Indian coffee high quality, sells it globally
23 Nov 2013
Coffee mega-chain Starbucks has found Indian-grown coffee beans to be of high quality and is selling Indian coffee at all its 19,000 outlets in 64 locations across the world, the company said while opening an outlet in Bangalore on Friday.
"In India, the coffee (that) farmers grow ... we not only sell the coffee in our stores here in India, but also take that coffee around the world - around 19,000 stores that we have across different countries we are operating," Starbucks group president China and Asia Pacific (channel development and emerging brands) John Culver told reporters.
"What we discovered over the last year is, there is very top quality Arabica coffee that is grown here in India. We tested that coffee, we roasted that and we now serve it in our stores as our Indian espresso," Culver said at the opening of Starbucks' first outlet in southern India.
It is, incidentally, surprising that Starbucks took so long to open its first outlet in southern India, where most of the country's coffee is grown and where, moreover, the locals are coffee rather than tea drinkers, unlike the rest of India.
Culver said there is a big opportunity to take Indian coffee across the globe "in our stores in other countries. So we are working for doing that - we are very optimistic about that opportunity and we are very excited about it".
Stating that coffee sold in Starbucks outlets in the country will also be made of Indian espresso, Avani Davda, chief executive of the company's Indian joint venture Tata Starbucks Ltd, said the company has launched a product- "India Estates Blend" sourced from South India.
Tata Starbucks, a 50/50 joint venture between Starbucks Coffee Company and Tata Global Beverages Ltd, opened its 30th store in India at Koramangala in Bangalore, adding Bangalore to its list of cities, which includes Mumbai, Delhi NCR and Pune.
The company will open two more stores by the end of the year at Phoenix Market City and Orion Mall at Brigade Gateway in Bangalore.