Once upon a time, Starbucks sourced a coffee called “Volcano King,” from the Virunga Mountains in Uganda. I don’t know much about it: the information I have comes from the packaging design. Given that the packaging sticker appears to be pre-date the white, vertical Reserve packaging, I’d guess this was sometime in 2014.
The story I’ve been told is that the Uganda Volcano King was axed by Starbucks at the last minute. So I’m told, the coffee didn’t meet Starbucks’ rigorous coffee quality standards and so it was axed.
It’s an interesting coffee history! This story is a reminder that Starbucks has very rigorous and high standards for all their coffees, whether offered in core Starbucks stores, Reserve stores, or the coffee aisle of your local grocery store. It also means that the Uganda Sipi Falls coffee actually would have been the second Uganda coffee, had Starbucks actually launched Volcano King!
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Fabulous bits of trivia as always, thank you!!! The sipi falls label makes me want to browse through all the concept art that was created for all or our reserve labels and seasonal packaging! $ 🙂
I would love to hear more about this Uganda coffee that never made it to the consumer market – but just knowing now that these kinds of things happen is enlightening. I can’t imagine all the work that went into planning this product only to have it axed before it hit the market. I wonder what it tasted like, what the price would have been, when exactly did this take place? Most of all – the DESIGN of this label is stunning – and what happened to it? Wonder who the designer was on this label?
Sometimes it is available for consumers at Simon Levelt in the Netherlands.
[…] coffee sourced from Uganda. Interestingly, it was nearly the second. Starbucks almost launched Uganda Volcano King coffee at one point, and then axed it, deciding it didn’t meet their coffee quality […]