After two short weeks our time in Costa Rica is rapidly coming to a close. During this experience I have learned a lot about the business of farming and sustainability and made lots of new friends. Reflecting on this moment I see how many things we have accomplished in our short time here and made losing sleep and long bus rides all worth it.
Farms
A lot of the businesses we visited were farms of different crops, whether it was bananas, coffee, pineapples, or palmito, the farmers faced many challenges in the production of their plants. A large amount of these crops have to be thrown out in the production process because of insects and other diseases. The process the farms go through to produce the crops made me appreciate the final product in the United States a lot more. Navigating these challenges in an organic and sustainable matter is impressive and helped with my appreciation of this process.
Processing Mills and Exporters
The processing mill at Doka was one of the most interesting things in the production process of all of the crops. It was fascinating to learn in a world full of innovation and technology that Doka used around the same mill that they used a hundred years ago. Another part of the process that was interesting was the simple float test that could tell if the bean was good or not. Comparing the densities of the bean and how that affects the quality was also interesting. The amount of labor and time it took to turn the bean into a final product that is able to be shipped to Starbucks or other large companies in American helped me appreciate the cup of coffee I buy all the time back in the United States.
Coffee Roasters and Retail Stores
Cafe Britt is a great example of using retail stores and cafes to further their brand with Costa Rican coffee. The company has all three on their site and you have to walk through the cafe and store on the tour at the end. Most of their products in the store are mainstream stuff animals or shirts relating to Costa Rica, but the rest of their products are coffee they roasted or chocolates that they made. I had to experiment with the Cafe myself and I got a coffee and ice cream drink, it was outstanding. Although I knew a little about the process of roasting to create dark or light blends, seeing the process first hand and being able to taste the different final products gave me a greater understanding. Cafe Britt gave me a better understanding on the things Life Monteverde and Doka did not hit on. It was great to have all the experiences and points of view and see points of overlapping and differences between each.
Customers
The process of buying these final products differs from country to country. In Costa Rica many of the people buy cheap coffee from Nicaragua instead of the high quality coffee grown in their own country. Most of the high quality coffee is shipped to the United States and other countries and the customers in these countries make the decision to buy the high quality coffee. My opinion is slightly different on the crop of pineapple. Most customers don’t know exactly what makes a good pineapple and always aim for a pineapple that is the most yellow. This was disproven by our tour guide telling us a gradient of yellow and green is the best color for a pineapple. The tasting of the pineapple as a customer on the farm and the customer at the super market was slightly disappointing. The pineapple straight off the farm was amazing and miles better than any pineapple I have had before. It is disappointing that many of these pineapples are shipped to super markets and lose some of that juicy sweet taste they have straight off the farm.