Ten Years of Impact at Hacienda Alsacia

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<a href="https://www.starbuckscoffeefarm.com/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hacienda Alsacia in Costa Rica</a> is Starbucks first and only company-operated coffee farm, with more than 800,000 coffee trees growing over 240 hectares on the slopes of Poas Volcano. Purchased in 2013, the farm is now headquarters to the Starbucks Costa Rica Farmer Support Center – originally opened in 2004 and now <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2018/starbucks-farmer-support-centers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">one of 10 around the world</a> – and Starbucks Global Research and Development team.

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At the farm, the goal is to help solve the many challenges stressing coffee-farming communities around the world – issues like climate change, aging farmer populations and coffee rust. That’s done by creating new disease- and climate-resistant coffee varietals, modeling and developing best agronomy practices that are disseminated to the other Starbucks Farmer Support Centers, working with farmers to help them understand how to assess the taste and quality of their coffee, and acting as a convening place for coffee experts and Starbucks partners (employees). 

There’s state-of-the-art coffee-processing equipment that uses less water and energy compared to traditional coffee processing methods, housing facilities for farm workers, and a visitor center, where almost 100,000 people have taken in-person <a href="https://coffeeexperiences.starbucks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tours</a>. More than 1,700 partners have visited the farm for <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2023/costa-rica-origin-experience-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Starbucks Origin Experiences</a> to immerse in the story of coffee at its source. And more than 280,000 farmers around the world have received training around sustainability and ethical sourcing with information developed at Hacienda Alsacia.

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Following the Journey at Hacienda Alsacia

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Celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Hacienda Alsacia — Starbucks working farm and home to global research and development — and learn about the impact it's had on Starbucks partners (employees), farmers and the coffee industry around the world.

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The lab to offer hands-on and virtual learning for Starbucks partners, students, researchers and industry leaders to innovate and scale solutions for some of the world’s most challenging social and environmental issues &nbsp;

Starbucks and Arizona State University partner to create programming this fall; the lab is expected to physically open within the next three years&nbsp;&nbsp;

Seattle, WA — Starbucks announced plans today to develop a new sustainability learning and innovation lab at Hacienda Alsacia – the company’s global agronomy headquarters for research and development, located in Costa Rica. The lab will serve as a hub for hands-on and virtual learning opportunities for Starbucks partners (employees), students, researchers and industry leaders to innovate and scale sustainable solutions for some of the world’s most challenging environmental and social issues, including climate adaption and agricultural economics.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Starting this fall, the lab will offer the first wave of educational programming to select Arizona State University (ASU) students and Starbucks partners. The first wave will leverage ASU’s leading educational technology and world-class faculty to enrich the student experience, including study abroad opportunities tied to existing ASU degree programs, such as Sustainability, Sustainable Food Systems, Global Agribusiness, Environmental and Resource Management, among others. Starbucks lab is expected to physically open within the next three years.&nbsp;

<a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2023/ten-years-of-impact-at-hacienda-alsacia/">For more than a decade</a>, Hacienda Alsacia, the company’s first and only company-owned and operated coffee farm, has focused on the sustainability of coffee.&nbsp; The farm is dedicated exclusively to research and development, where the Starbucks team is creating new coffee varieties, testing disease-resistant coffee trees and developing and sharing agricultural practices to produce a higher yield and ensure the future of coffee. While the research and development at Hacienda Alsacia will continue, the lab will expand the capabilities and collaboration needed to cultivate positive social and environmental change beyond coffee.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“This is an opportunity for us to advance Starbucks environmental promise to give more than we take and our farmer promise to ensure the future of coffee for all,” said Laxman Narasimhan, Starbucks chief executive officer. “We know we cannot do this important work alone, and the possibilities in front of us to scale solutions, partner with thought leaders and serve as a global hub for innovation are limitless."

Starbucks <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/mission/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mission</a> extends well beyond its customers, partners and cafes. As a company that buys 3% of the world’s highest quality and ethically sourced arabica coffee from more than 400,000 farmers in more than 30 countries, Starbucks understands its future is inextricably tied to social and environmental challenges. The company has a long-standing commitment to work alongside communities to become a resource positive company, including cutting its carbon, water and waste footprints in half by 2030. In partnership with others, Starbucks is committed to identifying new ways to give more than it takes with the belief that the company can build a great business that scales for good and has a positive impact on the future.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Starbucks and ASU have a long-standing partnership of working together to build educational and innovative programming. Most recently, Starbucks and ASU reached a milestone of graduating more 10,000 partners through the <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2023/bridge-to-the-future-more-than-10000-have-graduated-through-starbucks-college-achievement-plan/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Starbucks College Achievement Program.</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

“This is an exciting new chapter in our nearly decade-long partnership with Starbucks,’’ said Arizona State University President Michael Crow. “The new sustainability learning and innovation lab will expand on our collaboration together, working closely to tackle critical challenges with a collective commitment to seek new and sustainable approaches that impact global communities.”&nbsp;

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About Starbucks&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting high-quality arabica coffee. Today, with over 35,000 stores worldwide, the company is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. Through our unwavering commitment to excellence and our guiding principles, we bring the unique Starbucks Experience to life for every customer through every cup. To share in the experience, please visit us in our stores or online at <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stories.starbucks.com</a> or <a href="http://starbucks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">starbucks.com</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

About Arizona State University&nbsp;&nbsp;

Arizona State University has developed a new model for the American Research University, creating an institution that is committed to access, excellence and impact. ASU measures itself by those it includes, not by those it excludes. As the prototype for a New American University, ASU pursues research that contributes to the public good, and ASU assumes major responsibility for the economic, social and cultural vitality of the communities that surround it.&nbsp;

The lab to offer hands-on and virtual learning for Starbucks partners, students, researchers and industry leaders to innovate and scale solutions for some of the world’s most challenging social and environmental issues.

Starbucks to open sustainability learning and innovation lab in Costa Rica - Starbucks Stories

Starbucks to open sustainability learning and innovation lab in Costa Rica

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From January through March, Starbucks flew 800 partners (employees) from the U.S. and Canada to <a href="https://www.starbuckscoffeefarm.com/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hacienda Alsacia</a> – <a href="https://coffeeexperiences.starbucks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the Starbucks research and development farm in Costa Rica</a>&nbsp;– to participate in the 2023 Origin Experience (OE) and immerse in the story of coffee.&nbsp;Two more Origin Experiences are planned for later this year in Indonesia and Rwanda, for international partners.

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The partners, all of them certified Coffee Masters, represent a variety of roles within the company, from barista to manufacturing to operations leaders. They&nbsp;met farmers, agronomists and exporters; planted coffee seeds and harvested coffee cherries; saw how coffee is grown and processed; and learned about the best practices that have consistently resulted in yields at Hacienda Alsacia that are 4 to 5 times the national average.

See what they experienced, through this photo essay, and hear from&nbsp;partners about what they’re taking away.

“My hope is you’ll never look at a bean or a cup of coffee the same way again,” says Beth Ann Williamson, one of the OE guides, right before partners get off the bus at the Hacienda Alsacia Visitor Center. OE starts with – what else? – a tasting of coffee grown, processed and roasted on the farm. Partners then get guided tours of the Visitor Center, which recently celebrated its 5th anniversary, where they take in sweeping views of the farm and begin to learn about what coffee plants look like at different stages, and how it transforms from seed to cup.

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Carlos Mario Rodriguez, Starbucks head of global research and development, and <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2023/on-international-womens-day-starbucks-celebrates-the-women-leading-the-way-in-the-coffee-business/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sara Bogantes, agronomist</a>, explain the work being done to develop the next generation of coffee plants. Their job is to find and cultivate hybrids and varietals with the elusive combination of high yield, good taste and resistance to climate change and disease. Bogantes, a 4th generation coffee farmer, talks about the Starbucks core collection she manages – 617 different kinds of coffee available to farmers through Starbucks open-source agronomy initiative.&nbsp;

After lunch, underneath a big open-air tent on a soccer field, Victor Trejos, general manager of the farm, leads partners out to the Esperanza (hope) plot, named after his mother who passed three years ago, and named after the “hope and love you need to be a coffee farmer.” Partners plant seedlings into the ground, and decorate and personalize identification stakes next to each. “It was oddly emotional,“ says Josh Tesdall, a shift supervisor from St. Paul, Minnesota. “It feels like I contributed to my job in a way that I've never been able to before.”&nbsp;

Don Concho and Doña Maritza, two coffee harvesters, share their family’s story of migrating from Nicaragua and talk about the work of picking coffee cherries by hand. After learning it takes about 25 coffee cherries to make an espresso shot, partners team up and harvest ripe coffee cherries for the next half hour. They marvel at the physical labor needed to fill even the bottom of their baskets.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Partners don safety helmets and vests to tour the loud, vibrating three-story wet mill. They can see how the raw coffee cherries are washed and processed; how the skin, pulp and mucilage are removed; and how the beans are sorted into different grades. Some of the beans go to a large concrete drying pad and racks nearby. Others go to the adjacent dry mill where they’re tumbled in heat and prepped for shipping in large burlap coffee sacks. Trejos surprises each partner with their own burlap sack.&nbsp;&nbsp;

An hourlong drive away,&nbsp;partners meet Napoleon Chavez, 38, a smallholder farmer. About five years ago, his family coffee business was almost wiped out by coffee rust, a fungal disease. He restarted his farm with seedlings from&nbsp;Hacienda Alsacia and adopted Starbucks <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/cafe-practices-starbucks-approach-to-ethically-sourcing-coffee/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">C.A.F.E. Practices</a>.&nbsp;He’s since doubled his yield, and now runs a model farm, where he evangelizes ethical sourcing and sustainability solutions to others in his community.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Inside the coffee laboratory, partners practice cupping, the formal observation of the tastes and aromas of brewed coffee. Three cups are placed in front of each partner – a blind tasting of single-origin coffees from around the world. The conversation starts with the senses and how each coffee smells and reacts on the tongue after a big slurp. One sample elicits “tobacco,” “peppery” and “heavier mouthfeel.” Another is described as “sour,” “blueberries” and “juicy.” Other discussions follow. Is unripe banana a good or bad smell? What causes some coffee to taste like a band-aid, or a raw potato?&nbsp;&nbsp;

A tractor pulls a large trailer along a hilly ridge at about 5,000 feet elevation, past densely packed rows of coffee trees on the foothills of Poas, an active volcano. The tractor stops and partners walk up to an overlook, the highest point on the farm. Felipe Arbelaez Jaramillo, the manager of the Starbucks Colombia Farmer Support Center, introduces himself and talks about the role of the <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2018/starbucks-farmer-support-centers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10 FSCs around the world:</a> to help farmers improve crop quality and yield.&nbsp;&nbsp;

After learning about the <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2023/the-starbucks-foundation-announces-grants-to-uplift-1-million-women-and-girls-in-coffee-growing-communities/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">work of The Starbucks Foundation in origin communities</a>, and a discussion around&nbsp;<a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/cafe-practices-starbucks-approach-to-ethically-sourcing-coffee/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">C.A.F.E. Practices of ethical sourcing and sustainability</a>, partners are asked to gather their thoughts and prepare the stories they want to share when they get back home. It’s been a full, whirlwind schedule – back-to-back 13-hour days. Some want to lead a coffee tasting. Others build&nbsp;photo essays or write poems they plan to share with family members and co-workers back home.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Starbucks Origin

Starbucks recently flew 800 partners (employees) from the U.S. and Canada to Hacienda Alsacia, our research and development farm in Costa Rica, to immerse in the story of coffee.

Costa Rica Origin Experience 2023

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As we look toward the next 50 years of Starbucks, we stand firmly in our aspiration of ensuring a sustainable future of coffee for all. We are <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2020/this-earth-day-meet-some-of-the-people-working-to-make-coffee-sustainable/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">committed to sourcing coffee responsibly</a>, and as part of the company’s resource-positive aspiration, we recently announced <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2021/starbucks-announces-coffee-specific-environmental-goals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">coffee-specific environmental goals and strategies</a> to reduce carbon emissions and conserve and replenish water at origin. Now, customers can see that work in action through Starbucks new, immersive <a href="https://coffeeexperiences.starbucks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hacienda Alsacia virtual origin experience</a>.

Starbucks launched an all-new virtual experience that invites partners and customers to explore Hacienda Alsacia, the Starbucks Costa Rica-based coffee farm and global research and development hub where Starbucks experts are working to identify solutions for some of the biggest challenges facing farmers today.

Virtual visitors can choose their own tour guide for the interactive experience and explore the visitor center at their own pace as they stop by the nursery, learn about coffee harvesting, processing and drying, meet agronomist Carlos Mario Rodriguez and more. The virtual experience is available in eight closed caption languages including English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Chinese (simplified), Japanese and Korean.

To access the Hacienda Alsacia virtual experience, visit <a href="https://coffeeexperiences.starbucks.com/">coffeeexperiences.starbucks.com</a> and click “Begin your Journey.”

Interactive experience lets visitors explore Hacienda Alsacia, the Starbucks Costa Rica-based coffee farm and global research and development hub.

Take a virtual trip to Starbucks coffee farm in Costa Rica

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