Oklao Coffee Roasters exposed for mislabeling single estate beans

Oklao Coffee Roasters exposed for mislabeling single estate beans

2025-12-19

Nearly a month ago on Nov. 23, Taichung-based Oklao Specialty Coffee was accused of mislabeling their product as that of a top-prize geisha coffee. The accusation was made by the Panamanian coffee estate owner himself. On Friday, the head of the company finally came out to apologize. According to him, his company in the process of settling the matter with the estate owner. Meanwhile, the faulty products have been recalled and confiscated by authorities, and the case is being investigated by Taichung District prosecutors.

Wang Hsin-chun
Oklao Specialty Coffee chair
Apart of expressing our most sincere apologies, we’ve also audited relevant procedures and strengthened the standard of procedure for our operations and checks.

Oklao Coffee Roasters has come out to apologize after a coffee expert in Panama accused the company of fraudulently offering products from his award-winning estate, Finca Sophia, despite having never purchased from them.

Tu Pei-ling
Oklao Specialty Coffee GM
Before the Coffee Show in November, the employee in question was under a lot of pressure, so when he saw that the beans were from an estate also run by Willem Boot, he mistook the beans to be that of Mr. Willem’s most well-known Finca Sophia, and labeled them as such without confirming with us first.

According to the company, they first conducted business with Willem Boot in 2023, and that the geisha coffee beans the employee allegedly mislabeled were from Finca La Cabra, another Boot estate. Even though the two different beans were both produced by Boot, the prices differ by at least two-fold. The company also says that they’ve apologized to Boot and in the process of reaching a settlement.

Wang Hsin-chun
Oklao Specialty Coffee chair
We’re communicating with him through a local legal team. He said he understood our position and misunderstanding, and that he wouldn’t press the matter further by law, but we haven’t receive a response in print yet.

The Taichung Food and Drug Safety Office has ordered the recalling and confiscating of “mislabeled” products. The case is now being investigated by prosecutors.

Voice of Lee Yu-pei
Taichung District Prosecutors Office
The company is suspected of violating laws including the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, and we were notified to proceed with investigating the matter. The case was opened on Dec. 9 and is now under investigation.

Even though the company has come out to apologize and explained themselves, they may only win back consumers’ trust after the case is finalized in court.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Mon to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

#coffee #specialtycoffee #geishacoffee #panama #singleestate #singleorigin #luxury

遭控假冒頂級咖啡豆歐客佬致歉:資深員工粗心

2025-12-19

台中連鎖咖啡品牌歐客佬，被巴拿馬莊園主指控，假冒頂級藝妓咖啡豆品牌販售，涉嫌欺騙消費者，時隔多日，歐客佬董事長首次出面致歉，強調是資深員工，忙中有錯，才會誤植咖啡豆名稱，已經和園主達成和解，還在洽談和解金，而全案移送地檢署後，已列他字案偵辦。

[[歐客佬董事長王信鈞]]
“會誠摯道歉外，我們也徹查了相關的流程，並強化作業與審核的SOP”

連鎖咖啡品牌歐客佬高層親上火線致歉，因為他們被巴拿馬莊園主指控，冒用世界冠軍莊園名義，販售咖啡豆，涉嫌欺騙消費者。

[[歐客佬總經理涂裴鈴]]
“在11月咖啡展之前，這位同仁就是忙碌，所以他看到莊園主的名稱是威廉的時候，他就是誤判了，誤判之後把這批的咖啡豆，屬於威廉先生最知名的sophia莊園，未經過我們的確認之後，直接標示”

業者說，他們從2023年開始和莊園主威廉先生接觸，這回是資深員工，把la cabra藝伎咖啡，誤植為sophia藝伎咖啡，雖然這兩款咖啡，都是由威廉先生的莊園所生產，不過價差至少一倍，業者表示已經跟園主道歉達成和解，但和解金還在洽談。

[[歐客佬董事長王信鈞]]
“透過當地的律師去溝通，他是說可以諒解，諒解我們，理解我們的問題，不會再追溯，還沒有得個一個明確的書面的東西(回應)”

台中食安處獲報後，前往下架、封存問題咖啡豆，將全案函送台中地檢署偵辦。

[[聲源:台中地檢署襄閱主任檢察官李毓珮]]
“涉嫌違反食品安全衛生管理法等規定，函請本署偵辦，本署已於12月9日分他案，現由檢察官偵辦中”

知名咖啡品牌，捲入誠信爭議，業者還原事發始末，盼能及時止血，挽回商譽。

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