Although Costa Rica may be small and tend to lay on the independent side of the world, innovation in the world of technology is still reaching the country. When exploring Ventria’s University in San Jose, the specific new revolutions in the technology world were shown off by the managers of the school. In the University’s FabLab, 3D printers, drones, routers, and automatic machines were in use working on various projects for the University. Examining these uses of the technology at the school, I began to wonder how these same new inventions could be used in the Coffee Industry. 

While on tours of both the Doke and Cafe Britt coffee companies, outdated machines were seen in use making the companies’ products. Learning how much work goes into making coffee, including roasting and packaging allows me to view these new technological advances and see how they could fit into the daily production of coffee. Automations could speed up the process of roasting and transportation. Many off the coffee beans are transported by water flow and dried by the sun within the plantation at Doke at least. An automatic machine could be put in place to assist in these tasks by moving and drying the beans on a computed schedule by the machine. 3D printing would majorly assist Cafe Britt in packaging their coffee. The machine could be coded to print the packaging to be easily put together and then an automation machine could have the coffee ready to pour in the bags once put together. Drones could change the coffee industry’s delivery methods as they have begun to do this action for companies like Amazon. Drones could also help transporting the materials solely on the farm from station to station. 

Although all these ideas sound as though they would help business’s with their coffee production and retail by reducing costs and speeding up the process, the quality of the coffee and the sustainability of the company may be at risk. Coffee industries in Costa Rica do things a certain way because it works for them. While looking at using new technology for packaging and transporting through drones, the company would probably be better off making these changes. But when technology is implemented into the actual day to day handling of the coffee beans what what happens to their ingredients, quality may be effected. Technology could also cause more harm to the environment if the machines have exhaust or release chemicals and with Costa Rica’s main focus being on protecting their environment and resources, they would want to avoid these changes if they did have negative environmental results.