hyalineskies

Although the autumn chill couldn’t penetrate my black pea coat, my unprotected hands hurt in protest of the rest of my upper body being perfectly cozy. I pressed onward, camera in hand, going to attempt the Starbucks Challenge at Main and Liberty. Would they make me a cup of Café Estima, Starbucks’ only fair-trade coffee? I was hoping so. I really didn’t want to write an article of bad review for what is unquestionably my favorite coffee company.

I walked into the warmth of the shop, a small branch on the Southwest corner of State and Liberty, amazingly sterile yet cozy and inviting. I started having second thoughts. Is this the right thing to do? I’m going to look foolish. It may not work, after all. I don’t want to be the guy that special orders coffee. I’m an editor, not an investigative reporter. Maybe I should just leave.

It was too late. The line in front of me had moved on to its caffeinated bliss, and it was my turn.

“Could I please have a Grande of your fair trade coffee?” I asked nonchalantly. Register Barista looked at me with skepticism.
“Today we have Mexican Shade Grown,” she replied politely. I had a sinking feeling that this was about to fail, considering so many others had failed with this mechanical response. I flicked on my digital camera.
“Yes, but is Mexican Shade Grown fair trade?” I said persistently.
“I don’t know,” the Register Barista replied. “I’ll ask.”

She left the register and walked to the espresso machine. I glanced back at the line behind me, each member of the queue glaring in my direction with annoyance. I smiled uneasily as Register Barista returned, well, to the register.

“No, it isn’t fair trade,” she said with a tinge of melancholy.

I felt like the guy that I absolutely hated in line at my usual State and Liberty location - that one guy that orders his triple-extra-sweet-no-room-soy-caramel-macchiato at the specific temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit, holding up those either chronically late like me or others on tight, corporate schedules. For me, it’s usually a simple Grande Americano or a Grande whatever-the-coffee-of-the-day is; I honestly cared less about its trade status from my WTO-supporting-international-economist-in-training perspective. (After all, Starbucks states (PDF) that it plays nice with all of its coffee growers, and I’m going to trust them both from my level of corporate/business understanding and my general instinct.)

“He wants me to brew him a pot of Estima,” Register stated somewhat inqusitively to Espresso. Espresso stared back, silently, for roughly two seconds.

“Do it,” Espresso said. Register pushed on the computer screen. $1.70 later, she was preparing to make my Estima.

“Congratulations,” I said. “You passed the Starbucks Challenge.”

The Register Barista was confused. I explained the project and the baristas happily posed for a picture. I apologised for the inconvenience and waited four minutes as she had stated, perfectly in line with company policy (Supposedly, this can be done for any of their coffees upon request, not just fair trade.) As I waited, I put my camera onto auto-bracketing mode and took a few more shots at the location. After the bystanders got uncomfortable, Espresso Barista eventually told me (rather sternly) to stop, as she was the one who could dictate what I took photographs of in the store. I halted my photographic spree slightly annoyed, but Espresso Barista’s concern could very well be justifiable from an intellectual property perspective.

“…and your Estima,” Register Barista said while handing me my fresh brew. I gave my thanks and walked out of the store, satisfied, knowing that at the very least I had tested the social responsibility of a corporation that gets roughly a tenth of my meager student-editor’s income. (And yes, with that first sip of fresh-brewed goodness, my conscience forgave me as well.)

(via kottke.org)