Day two was the most packed yet. While tiring it was also fun to see more of Costa Rica. The entire day was enjoyable from the Doka Estate to the mall to the Spanish lessons.
The Doka estate was the most interesting to me. Any company or brand with long term success has something we can learn from. The Doka estate was no different. It has been around for over 100 years as many plantations around it have fallen. While mainly a plantation for coffee, but they will also process and even roast some beans for tourists visiting the plantation.
The process begins with the plants. Interestingly the plants can survive for 100 years however to keep the high standard of Costa Rican coffee they only keep the plants for 25 years. They must constantly grow new plants for this purpose as a plant must be 1-2 years old to grow coffee.
The actual coffee plant can grow up to 6ft(2m) however due to the shorter height of most pickers they must be kept slightly shorter. The pickers themselves also have a story as less than 20% are Costa Rican nationals. The others come mostly from Nicaragua as the colone is worth much more there. Every year they will go after the season is over and then return when the time for picking arrives.
I appreciate the difference in taste in different products. And while my palate isn’t as good as Gordon Ramsey’s, I have never been able to notice a natural chocolate flavor(not artificially put in) from coffee in the US. Today at the Doka estate I was actually able to taste a bitter chocolate in the coffee which is a flavor profile associated with some of their coffee. I believe that having a fresh bean is responsible for this. However I am still unsure if the actual Costa Rican process is better than any other Arabica bean.
Perhaps tomorrow’s tour of Café Britt will provide more clarity.