What stuck out most to me on today’s tour of Doka Estate is that the coffee industry in Costa Rica is under threat from an impending loss of land. Our program guide, Sylvia, mentioned on the first day that the city used to be covered in cafetales (coffee plantations) but that construction companies have been buying up all the land in recent decades. My host father, Miguel, lamentingly reiterated this point the following morning as he walked us to our bus stop past one residential complex after another. And again, the manager of Doka Estate, Mario, noted this as one of the coffee industry’s greatest challenges.
From an economic perspective focused purely through a financial lens, I recognize that ‘business is business.’ Money wins. However, it’s clear to me that there is value in the cultural significance of an industry like coffee. Mario’s final point was almost a plea that, given our unique opportunity to tour the Doka Estate and to understand his world, we should stay mindful of the intangible qualities of the business – of the art – and to recognize how much it has meant to people for years. After all, it is not without significant history that Costa Ricans call coffee their “golden bean.”
On another note, regarding some interesting technology from today, I was especially intrigued by the very simple cahuela. A cahuela is a bucket used by coffee pickers to collect and measure beans as they make their way across the cafetal. It’s a simple technology because it’s just a bucket, but what piqued my curiosity was its function as the first step in the operational process of the coffee business. A coffee picker is paid two dollars for each cahuela that they fill in a day (typically fifteen), and then the beans undergo various fermentation and drying and peeling processes until the company can sell a finished product. As the tour guide made her way through each point of the presentation, I tried to find out what sorts of expenses were paid and revenues generated throughout the production process. I unfortunately couldn’t get all the information I was after, but it was still a fun exercise all the same.
Finally, I feel compelled to comment on the richness of the coffee I tried today. The kind I tasted was called “peaberry.” Roughly 5% of a coffee harvest ends up being peaberry, which means that instead of a berry containing two distinct coffee beans, the beans are fused together as one. This causes the bean to be twice as flavorful, which definitely came through in the final product. I would say it certainly exceeded my expectations.