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The supply of coffee beans is interrupted! Starbucks stops selling iced coffee in some areas?!

Published: 2026-04-05 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/04/05, According to a report in Korea Economic Daily on April 12, due to the impact of the global logistics crisis, Starbucks coffee beans in South Korea continue to experience delivery delays, coupled with insufficient existing coffee bean stocks and unstable logistics centers. As a result, more than half of Starbucks stores in South Korea are unable to supply iced coffee. Due to the recent continuous price of coffee futures

According to a report in Korea Economic Daily on April 12, due to the impact of the global logistics crisis, Starbucks coffee beans in South Korea continue to experience delivery delays, coupled with insufficient existing coffee bean stocks and unstable logistics centers. As a result, more than half of Starbucks stores in South Korea are unable to supply iced coffee.

Due to the recent rising coffee futures prices and logistics tensions, Starbucks in South Korea took the lead in early January to announce that the price of American coffee would rise. By the end of February, Starbucks in South Korea began to have difficulties in the supply and demand of coffee beans, but returned to normal in early March. But by the end of March, a small number of Starbucks stores were unable to serve iced coffee, cold extract coffee and packaged coffee beans, and as of April 11, more than half of Starbucks stores in South Korea have suspended the sale of iced coffee (iced filter coffee & cold extract coffee).

A South Korean Starbucks official said: the menu of iced coffee is changed every week, and its production uses cold bubbles / drip filtration to extract light and moderately roasted coffee beans, compared with Italian espresso beans to make American coffee. Iced coffee will taste more refreshing and the layers will be more rich. Therefore, ice drip filter coffee / cold extract coffee will be more popular with Korean consumers. But this is just a comparison between iced American coffee and iced coffee, other coffee drinks can not be made without espresso, so in terms of order quantity, espresso beans are much more than iced coffee beans. The coffee beans and other related materials used by Starbucks in South Korea need to be ordered from the United States head office. Due to the shortage of logistics, the US head office will decide the delivery order according to the number of orders, so the beans used to make iced coffee take longer to wait than Italian coffee beans. At the same time, the person in charge also said that due to fears that the shipping will further lead to logistics delays, some of the Italian coffee beans used by stores in South Korea are now airlifted to Hong Kong, and transportation costs will also rise.

In the face of this situation, some South Korean consumers asked why Starbucks in South Korea had been acquired by emart and waited for Starbucks in the United States to supply coffee beans. Can't you buy your own coffee beans? Then industry insiders replied that although South Korea's Starbucks has been acquired by emart, its mode of operation has not changed, and South Korea's Starbucks needs to pay about 5% of the franchise fee to Starbucks every year. The menu and materials of Starbucks stores in South Korea need to remain the same, so Starbucks in Korea still needs to order coffee beans from its head office. The head office also needs to make a profit from ordering raw materials, which is also a condition for Starbucks to authorize a franchise.

Starbucks also responded later: each company has different baking methods, and each kind of beans will be baked and served in a different order. At present, Starbucks' largest shareholder in South Korea is E-Mart, and the second largest shareholder is Singapore Investment Agency. Photo source: online professional coffee knowledge exchange more coffee bean information please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style) more boutique coffee beans please add private Wechat Qianjie coffee, WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

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