Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting the highest-quality arabica coffee in the world.

ENGADGET: Starbucks switches to Square for payments, invests $25 million and will support Pay with Square

Futures for arabica coffee, the variety most commonly brewed in the world, have been falling along with other commodities, amid gloomy headlines out of Europe.

WSJ: Trouble Brews in Colombia

The company forecast that fiscal year profits for 2011 will be offset by 20 cents per share due to the rising price of arabica coffee beans.

FORBES: Starbucks Posts Earnings Win, Stock Falls on Rising Coffee Costs

World output of arabica coffee will shrink 4.3% to 79.6 million bags in the current crop year, which began in October, according to the London-based International Coffee Organization.

WSJ: Trouble Brews in Colombia

Coffee historians believe most of the world's Arabica coffee crop shares genetic ancestry with two 18th century plants: one brought to Europe from Indonesia, and another taken from Yemen and cultivated in Brazil.

WSJ: The Indiana Jones of Coffee

The fungus has ruined what was supposed to be a good year for Colombia, the world's second-largest producer of high-quality arabica coffee, the mild-flavored, hand-picked beans for which coffee traders usually pay a premium.

WSJ: Trouble Brews in Colombia

The trend cuts across Latin American countries that depend on washed arabica beans, which require subtle growing techniques and processing, and are the type nearly always used in gourmet coffee.

WSJ: Coffee Growers Forge a Futures Recovery