"Forest Starbucks Project" Launched in Minakami Town, Gunma Prefecture: Challenging Unique Utilization of Thinned Wood and Promoting Environmental Education and Information Dissemination for Partners in Minakami's Forests

Starbucks Coffee Japan Ltd. [Headquarters: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Hisae Morii] is launching the "Forest Starbucks Project" in Minakami Town, Gunma Prefecture. Since signing the "Cooperation Agreement to Foster Rich Forests and People from the Source of the Tone River" in April 2025, our partners (employees) have been working with the town's residents on forest maintenance activities in cooperation with the Minakami Town Forest Utilization Council. This initiative has further expanded our network, leading to collaboration with students from the Green Life Department of Tone Industrial High School in Gunma Prefecture. This project starts as a development of these past efforts.

[Specific Activities]

1. As a primary activity, we will actively utilize thinned wood that has been difficult to circulate as lumber, challenging ourselves to create new stories through this unprecedented initiative. Durability testing of building materials made from unused thinned wood has begun.

2. We will borrow (lease) a portion of Minakami Town's forest to use as a place to accumulate knowledge and learning about the significance of these activities and their potential.

3. An experiment to create bio-nest compost by combining coffee grounds from stores in Gunma Prefecture with materials from Minakami's forests.

4. Implementation of the "Wild Seedling Nursery System," where wild seedlings are raised at 17 drive-through stores in Gunma Prefecture and then returned to the forest.

Through these activities, we will implement and disseminate information about various initiatives connecting Minakami's forests and our stores.

"Forest Starbucks Project" Challenges Unique Utilization of Thinned Wood! Testing Begins for Use in Building Materials.

In the forestry and timber distribution industries, there are specifications for logs that, despite having no strength issues, are too small to be directly used as building materials (such as pillars and beams) and are often discarded without being circulated. We are challenging ourselves to utilize these unused thinned woods and create new stories. This project plans to use these materials as building materials when constructing stores. For example, by using wood that is not suitable for building structures as interior materials for stores, we will attempt to expand the applications of thinned wood. By promoting such unique utilization, we can create a new flow from thinning to utilization, leading to the fostering of rich forests. As an initial effort, we have begun durability testing of building materials made from these thinned woods. In the forest of Minakami, where we conduct employee training, we have created five types of decks by combining three tree species (Sugi, Konara, Kuri) and two types of wood preservatives, and we will test the most durable combination in a natural environment. The forest decks challenge a "no-waste" design while also utilizing the unevenness of the wood. Generally, wood distribution is done according to standards and required dimensions, making it very difficult to reduce waste. Furthermore, when aiming for a more natural design and using pieces of random dimensions, we select from standardized lumber, which unfortunately results in even more wood being discarded. In this deck production test, we were able to reduce the waste rate from 60%-70% per log to 30%-40% compared to conventional lumber processing (※). This result was achieved through collaboration between lumber processing and construction. We will learn from the forest how the texture of wood born from this "no-waste" approach ages, and use this as learning for future store development. ※Waste rate data source: Fueki Construction Co., Ltd., Kobayashi Sangyo Co., Ltd. (both in Minakami Town, Gunma Prefecture)

Environmental Education for Partners Based in Minakami's Forests

We plan to conduct activities to learn about forests and the global environment through hands-on forest maintenance experiences in Minakami Town. The cup of coffee that enriches people's lives and energizes them, which we have cherished since our founding, is a gift from the Earth. Due to climate change such as global warming, there is the "Coffee 2050 Problem," where it is said that by 2050, the land suitable for cultivating "Arabica beans," which account for about 60% of the world's coffee bean production, will be halved. Through a "Third Place Experience Talking with the Earth," where we spend time in the forest, without walls or ceilings, and savor coffee, we aim to create an opportunity for each partner to take a small step for the environment, reflecting on the environment that will allow us to continue enjoying coffee. We also expect new connections to be born from providing customers with a little insight in our own words at the stores through the forest experience. We believe that accumulating step-by-step actions and changing awareness towards the environment are important, even if they are not direct activities to protect coffee cultivation environments.

Launch of "Coffee Grounds Composting" and "Wild Seedling Nursery System" as Initiatives Connecting Minakami's Forests and Stores

As an initiative connecting forests and stores, we will conduct experiments in composting using coffee grounds generated from coffee extraction at our stores and natural materials from the forest. In the forest we are borrowing, partners from Gunma Prefecture and students from Tone Industrial High School have collaborated to create three types of bio-nests: "coffee grounds and local soil," "coffee grounds and fallen leaves," and "coffee grounds and bamboo chips." Bio-nests are a sustainable composting method aimed at reducing the cost of plant-based waste treatment and utilizing plant-based waste as a resource, harnessing the natural power of the forest. If the compost is certified as effective by a third-party organization, it will be used for the landscaping on the premises of drive-through stores in Gunma Prefecture. The second initiative is the "Wild Seedling Nursery System." This system protects young trees in the forest from damage by animals, etc., by transplanting them to the landscaping on the premises of drive-through stores, nurturing them for about three years, and then returning them to the forest as planted trees. We aim to create an opportunity for customers who have never been to a forest to feel a little closer to nature by learning about the "Wild Seedling Nursery System" at our stores and touching trees. With the cooperation of the Nature Conservation Society of Japan, which promotes the "Minakami Nature Positive Project," we have found young trees of about 20 species, such as Konara and Yama-zakura, in the forests of Minakami. Under their guidance, during the tree dormancy period, we plan to transplant several seedlings each to the landscaping at 17 drive-through stores in the prefecture for nurturing. ※Young trees are young trees that have recently sprouted from seeds of seed plants.

Starbucks has always valued the connections between people through a cup of coffee. The "Forest Starbucks Project" is a new initiative based on the "Cooperation Agreement to Foster Rich Forests and People from the Source of the Tone River," which not only creates opportunities to foster rich forests by challenging the utilization of thinned and unused wood but also nurtures the "connections between people" and "connections between people and the Earth" that we have cherished since our founding. Minakami Town, Starbucks, and our customers will take a first step together towards a sustainable future. The progress of this project will be published on our owned media (https://stories.starbucks.co.jp/morinostarbucksproject/).

◆ Starbucks Coffee Japan Ltd. https://www.starbucks.co.jp/ Starbucks Coffee Japan Ltd. opened its first store in Japan in Ginza, Tokyo, in 1996. We operate coffee stores in approximately 40,000 locations in about 80 markets worldwide, and 2,116 stores nationwide in all 47 prefectures (as of March 1, 2026, including licensed stores). Approximately 60,000 partners (employees) provide connections between people and heartwarming moments through a cup of coffee. On February 28, 2019, we opened "Starbucks Reserve® Roastery Tokyo," the fifth of its kind in the world. Stories that foster connections with people, society, the global environment, and local communities across the country are introduced on "STARBUCKS STORIES JAPAN."