Today, we visited Doka Coffee Estate. On our tour, we saw the process of planting a coffee tree all the way through the roasting process. The first thing that surprised me about the process behind growing coffee was the amount of time necessary for a tree to start producing coffee cherries. It takes about four years for a coffee tree to develop from a seed to a producing tree. This stood out to me from a new-business standpoint as waiting four years for profitability seems really difficult. It makes me wonder if new coffee plantations are common or if well-established plantations kind of take over everything else.
Aside from the large amount of time necessary to grow a coffee tree, the processing of coffee cherries into bean form was also fascinating. The technology used to process the coffee cherries is pretty simple, using mostly the forces of water to separate the different qualities of cherries. I think water, on any scale, is a great way even today to process coffee cherries. By using water, we can easily assess the quality of the cherries through differences in density and size. Those cherries that float to the top have a lower density, and therefore are of less quality. With further water processing, the different sizes can be filtered out with various mesh sizes. I think using simple properties of water to process coffee cherries is a method that can work efficiently at any scale. The drying process, however, could use more mechanization. Sun-drying the cherries may be more economical (in the picture), but it also takes more manual labor and time with the raking needed. I think utilizing a large mechanical dryer would benefit efficiency greatly.
I think the most striking issue coffee growers have in Costa Rica is finding the labor to pick the coffee. This, after all, is what makes Costa Rican coffee more premium than other countries. Because the coffee trees are hand-picked, only the ripest coffee cherries are picked. Until we have the technology to both assess ripeness and pick the cherries, Costa Rica will rely on laborers to do the hard work necessary for a premium coffee. Because of their hard work, Costa Rica is able to sell their coffee at a much higher price, making it possible for such a small country to compete with larger producers. With this in mind, Costa Rica needs the laborers to pick the cherries, however other things could be mechanized, such as the fertilization and pruning of the coffee trees.
Finally, what do I think about Costa Rican coffee? I have not had a lot of Costa Rican coffee yet, but from what I have tasted so far, it seems smoother than a typical cup of coffee from the United States. I do believe that this coffee is higher quality, and I see why Costa Rica can charge a premium for their coffee.