Today we learned about how coffee is produced at Doka. The process as a whole was incredibly interesting, but there were two things that really stood out to me. First, I could not believe the pay the Nicaraguans were receiving for their work on the plantation. I also was shocked that they still used their old methods to manufacture the coffee. Let me talk more in-depth about these discoveries I made.

As our tour guide was describing the process of harvesting the berries and removing the beans from the berries, she talked about the Nicaraguans that work on the plantation during the harvest season. She mentioned the intensive labor that they do (carrying 25 pounds of berries which are pressurized on their back) for six days a week. She then revealed that these workers are only paid around $30 a day for their 8-hour days of work. When I did the math, I found they made about $6,000 a year. Although Doka provides benefits like daycare, housing, healthcare, etc, I could not believe the incredibly low wages.

I also want to talk about the technology used in the preparation process for drying the beans. While we were told that the technology we saw was mostly used for the tour, I was shocked to hear that they still use it from time to time. It confuses me considering that the most updated machine in there was 80 years old. I understand that there is tradition, but there are definitely more efficient ways to do this process while still keeping the same flavor. I would think that they would only keep the old machine around to promote tourism.

Now for my review on the coffee. Keep in mind, I don’t drink coffee often at all, so I may have a biased opinion simply because of my preference. That being said, the coffee was amazing. I could not believe how sweet the first sample we tried was and it sprouted a love for coffee. I definitely believe that seeing the whole process helped me grow my love for the drink and I am incredibly thankful for the tour.