"THERE'S a story behind every cup of coffee you drink, and it's often one that would leave a bitter taste in your mouth if you knew about it. A case in point is the story that appeared this week revealing that Starbucks is opposing Ethiopian plans to trademark its most famous coffee names.

There's a real opportunity here for Ethiopia to capitalise - quite rightly - on the consistently high quality of its coffees by being able to trademark their coffee names and control how those names are used by others. If Starbucks can vigorously protect and make best use of its own globally recognised brand name, while at the same time making a big noise about selling the finest Ethiopian coffees, isn't there a whiff of hypocrisy in the air? " as written by Western Mail.

Is this not absolutely shameful to deny poorest farmers in Ethiopia to get value for their coffee by registering the names of their coffee?