Today we visited Doka Coffee Estate to learn about how they make their coffee and the steps that are included in this process. After walking around the tour and hearing from our tour guide, we learned how tedious all of the work that goes into picking and processing the coffee cherries is, before it is finally roasted and becomes the coffee bean that we all know. I found it interesting that the coffee manufacturing process includes both manual and automated labor. For example, the initial stages of picking the coffee cherries is done manually, and employees work from 6am to 2pm, averaging about 7 baskets per day around roughly 28 lbs total. It was nice to hear that the company provides helpful employee benefits for those who take on this labor, such as housing right on the estate. On the other hand, a process like peeling the red pulp off the cherries is done by a machine, which also sorts the cherries based on size.

Additionally, the coffee starts out drying out in the sun, but if there is not enough sunlight or the coffee is not completely dry after 4-5 days, it is placed into the machine to finish up the drying process. While using the machine might be more convenient, Doka backs their natural resource usage because of the benefits of using an easily accessible and free resource that can also dry more amounts of coffee than the machine at once. I was impressed by the sustainable aspects of this process that are incorporated into the business. Some of the most significant ones were the old pulp peels from the coffee cherries being reused through compost and the old coffee cherry trees (that are more than 25 years old) being put into the furnace to create fuel for all of the machinery used in the whole process. These recycling processes were really cool to learn about because it shows how the company tries not to waste much and reuse various materials.

After tasting our first bit of Costa Rican coffee here at Doka today, I think Costa Rican coffee is worth the hype, especially because of the massive effort that goes into producing the coffee itself. I enjoyed trying the various types, including the Breakfast Blend which is a combination of light, medium, and espresso roasts. We ate lunch at Fredo Fresa, where I enjoyed arroz con pollo and jugo de fresa, and afterwards we returned back to Heredia for a quick stop at La Universidad Latina De Costa Rica for Survival Spanish with Prof. Teeter. Today was a really cool learning experience and I’m excited to see what tomorrow’s events will teach us!