Blogging about coffee on my last day

The biggest expectation I had for Costa Rica was trying their world famous coffee. Shocking enough for me was that getting a good cup of coffee was hit and miss. I did learn that most of the good coffee is exported to Europe and the United States, leaving the less than par coffee here for the locals because they can charge lower prices for bad coffee.

With Bananas and coffee being the two biggest crops in Costa Rica, it’s amazing to me how completely different they are. In terms of production coffee needs to grown high in the mountains at lower temperatures, while bananas need direct sunlight and 80 degree temperatures. It’s also amazing to see who produces each product. On our tour through Costa Rica I noticed that coffee is grown by some big producers but for the most part it is grown by small farms and then sold to larger producers. Bananas on the other hand are mainly produced by big companies like Chiquita and Dole. I tend to think that coffee is more a part of the fair trade market because there are more producers of coffee than bananas. I would say the biggest difference between coffee and bananas is their sustainability. Even though coffee and bananas are not sustainable I feel that coffee is "less bad". When I am in the grocery store I never see organic bananas but I do occasionally find organic coffee, and as we all know organic is much more sustainable in the long run than products grown with pesticides.

Cafe Britt

On the 22nd we traveled to Cafe Britts headquarters in Santa Lucia de Heredia, Costa Rica. It was founded in 1985 by Steve Aronson It has store locations in Costa Rica, Peru, and Chile. Britt has been a leader since it was started. They have challenged many laws and have ultimately reformed the coffee business in Costa Rica. This has allowed some of the best coffee to be sold at the local market. They are also one of the first coffee producers to sell their product on the internet.
It was a very informative and high energy presentation. They showed how the coffee was picked and processed. An interesting fact is that after the bean is picked it loses 80% of its weight.It employs 800 employees in 43 locations. Britt is one of the largest coffee manufactures in Costa Rica. Interestingly it only has two places where it grows coffee in about an 8 acre area. It purchases the majority of its coffee from small farmers around Costa Rica. Britt only purcheses the best coffee beans from mountain grown plantations. They have many different products such as roasted gourmet coffee, tropical coffee, and coffee beans covered with candy. They do a great job of combining tourism with coffee. Over 50,000 tourist go through their plant every year.

Overall the presentation was excellent and upbeat. I felt the most powerful thing I recevied from the presentation was Britts ability to not only sell a product but to sell their brand through tourism. It was as if we were riding a ride through their presentation and at the end we were funneled into the gift shop where we could buy their product.

Trip to Daisy's coffee plantation

These are some of the drying tables for the coffee beans. It usually takes about 5 to 7 days for the coffee to make it from the plant to packaging.
These are some of the coffee beans, they should be harvested around January.

We traveled out of San Jose on Wednesday to a coffee plantation. Our first destination was cancelled due to a lot of run and mud, which would have been bad for hiking. So we rescheduled a visit ti Daisy's plantation. It was over 1000 meters in altitude. We were able to see the coffee being grown and some of the workers attending to the plants. I believe most of her coffee beans get harvested later on in a few months. She told us that she had recently (May 16th) one an award for the best coffee in Costa Rica. It was so high in the mountains that there was little sun which is great for growing coffee. There was also a huge temperature change once we reached the mountain peak. This is our trip to Del Cafe Tal and the owner Daisy

She told us a lot about the coffee process, so i am just going to list off some of things

1. She used to grow organic coffee but switched to nonorganic because the selling price were becoming equal and the expenses are a lot less than organic.

2. When she sells the coffee, her expenses usually total 50% of her profits.

3. Normally she is lucky to receive $1.50 per pound, but recently since she one the award she is able to demand $15 per pound.

4. She normally employs 70 workers for the harvesting season

5. She never sells to the Costa Ricans because they cant afford, but she was looking into selling it to high end supermarkets in CR.

6. Her biggest exports are to The US and Europe

7. She said that she rarely sells to Starbucks because they offer low prices

8. In order to classified as organic a farmer must have zero pesticides in the ground which can take some time if the farmer was previously a nonorganic farmer.

9. Coffee plants are planted in rows because it is easy for harvesting and it helps erosion

We travel to Cafe Brit tomorrow which sells both organic and nonorganic. From what I've heard this should be a much larger business with more workers and more coffee.

Coffee Research

Fair trade in recent years in the coffee industry has developed and started to grow.  Fair trade refers to creating an equitable market for both producers and consumers.  An advantage to free trade is that poor coffee farmers that produce high quality coffee enter the market and everyone wins.   This type of trade is vital to any market because is one of the three most traded goods in the world. In the 90s and early 2000's coffee bean prices have dropped significantly while the retail price has either remained constant or has risen. So coffee growers were ultimately losing profits to the retailers. This has also led to larger coffee corporations buying the smaller plantations coffee and selling it for more because they have more power to negotiate prices with retailers.  So, the fair trade agreements have helped pass down profits to the small coffee growers.

The best way to grow coffee beans is in the shade.  This strategy helps slow down the maturity process allowing the coffee bean to produce more sugar and a better flavor.  But some coffee growers are forced to grow their plants in the sun because they need a quicker turn around so that they can avoid impoverishment.  This consequently leads to deforestation and erosion.  So the benefits of fair trade coffee are that it helps the environment and the small farmer.

The most famous coffee in costa rica is found in the regions of Tarrazu, Tres Rios, and Alajuela. The best type of coffee is found at high elevations around 3,900 feet.   There are two types of coffee grown in Costa Rica Organic and nonorganic.  Organic requires the bean to be pesticide free and this demands a higher price when going to sell the beans.