Despite exporting some of the highest quality coffee in the world, Costa Ricans (Ticos) don’t drink coffee of that quality. One reason for this is that Ticos drink coffee with lots of milk and sugar, so the flavor of the coffee itself, thus the quality, is irrelevant. Another reason I believe this is the case is that coffee growers can earn more profit by exporting high quality coffee overseas. Their primary trade partners, Europe and the US, are much richer than Costa Rica, thus buyers there are willing to pay more than Ticos.

Cafe Britt’s most popular product is not coffee, but T-shirts. That’s because Cafe Britt isn’t actually a coffee company, but a tourist goods company. Selling coffee may have been the starting point for the company, but in the nearly 40 years since its inception, it has branched out far beyond its roots. Cafe Britt was founded to sell high quality coffee to Ticos, who previously exported all of it, and only drank coffee from low quality beans. However, they soon began selling to tourists in Juan Santamaria airport, and later, hotels. They were allowed to open a store in the airport, so they decided to sell goods other than coffee to tourists, such as T-shirts.

Cafe Britt sits further up the supply chain from Doka. It occupies the processing and some of the distribution links of the supply chain for the coffee supply chain. In that chain, they are roasters, and roasting coffee beans is a simple and quick process compared to the growing, harvesting, and preparation of coffee. As such, they can spend less on their “main” product and focus on other ventures, such as coffee tours and tourist goods. To sell their coffee and other products, they partnered with hotels and cafes, and eventually opened their own stores.