I’m not surprised that Ticos don’t seem to like the coffee sold by cafe brit. Cafe Brit is not really a coffee company as much as it is a marketing company. They take advantage of the relative lack of knowledge that tourists have about coffee, and say that they are a gourmet brand. Ticos most likely know places where they can get as good if not better coffee, and they don’t have to pay the gourmet prices that Cafe Britt charges. 

Cafe Britt sources coffee from local growers and sells it online and in airports across the Western Hemisphere. They have several advantages over other companies that want to sell to the United States. One such advantage is the reputation they have already built up. Even though Ticos don’t seem to believe it, Cafe Britt is seen as a very high quality coffee company outside Costa Rica, and that is a great benefit for gaining new customers. Another advantage they have, specifically related to the delivery of their coffee, is that their high quality reputation validates the shipping requirements to the customer. When customers purchase coffee from Cafe Britt, they also have the option of purchasing from their local supermarket. Cafe Britt then has to convince the customer that their coffee is worth the wait and extra effort in purchasing online. Having a gourmet brand really helps in this situation, since people have a sense of pride in buying high end items, even if it doesn’t make that much sense. This is a massive leg up on another company that might have better tasting coffee, but not the high end brand that Cafe Britt does. 

One thing I would change about the approach Cafe Britt has is to figure out what exactly the Ticos don’t like about their coffee. Is it the price or the taste? Once that is figured out, you can take some steps to fix it, but they also must be aware that it might be impossible to gain that market, and they could supplement it by expanding into other markets across the world, such as Japan and Northern Europe.