Just how coffee is, the original cacao seed from the plant is dried, fermented and roasted which turns into the cacao bean. Both coffee and cacao beans are natural stimulants and are produced in the opposite of their native countries. If you eat lots of cacao beans you can eventually release serotonin. Sibö and Café Britt both focus on creating unique products from their locally sourced plantations to emphasize the use of Costa Rican resources. Despite that one similarity, for the most part Sibö and Café Britt are different because Sibö is a small business so it has less control over the market than Café Britt does.

What was really cool about Sibö was that the papery husk from the cacao bean is collected then ground and boiled; this turns it into the paper they use for the boxes and hold the chocolates. In addition, chocolate started out as a liquid medicinal drink but eventually was switched to solid form. We got to try the different chocolates and they all had their different tastes but were all so yummy!

Some challenges that Sibö faces is that, for starters, they are a small business so it is harder for them to control a wider global market. It is difficult for them to get their name out to everyone and have people notice who they are since they have not established a known brand name. In addition, they have to train people to make fine chocolate and sometimes it is a challenge to keep these people at their company after they are trained.

If I had to pick, I would want to work in the chocolate industry. It seems like they are very passionate about their job and care about how they produce their chocolate. Plus, who doesn’t want to always have chocolate at their fingertips??