I was awakened by the call of my host mother to go eat an amazing breakfast of banana pancakes with a side of fresh papaya and cantaloupe. The delicious breakfast was a great start to an amazing day in which we went on a tour of the Doka coffee farms. At the tour we got to try some of their coffee blends and even trying some of their specialty chocolates. Along with tasting the native delicacies we took time to learn about all the processes involved in growing, cleaning, and roasting coffee bean.

One of the most interesting things I learned while on the tour of the Doka coffee farm was that they make use of all of the biowaste created from the production of coffee beans. To start, one of my favorite innovations was the farm using the coffee trees that could no longer be of use as fuel to power any of their electrical equipment used in the process. This a great way to create little waste and save of transporting the waste from the farm. Another way they reused the biomass was using the skins as fertilizer and once the beans have dried they use the husks as more fuel for the machinery. All of these innovations are great because they allow the farm to reduce the waste produced and minimized costs of electricity.

Once we finished touring we got to sit down and talk with one of the managers at the farm and we got to learn more about coffees effect on the Costa Rican economy. It was interesting to learn that there is a governmental organization that’s soul purpose is to ensure the quality of the coffee produced and assist coffee farms for free whenever they come across a problem. We also learned that the quality of Costa Rican coffee comes not just from the perfect climate they have, but also from the the way they grow the coffee whether that be the types of fertilizers and soils or the specific plant and its relation to the region. Overall there were many more factors that go into coffee production than I had originally thought.

Lastly, I wanted to talk about the Cup of Excellence “tournament” that the Costa Ricans have. This is an awesome way that the Costa Ricans developed to promote small farms and give them good prices for their crops. Companies from all over the world come to watch and participate in the auction, this allows the winners to receive 10 if not 100 times the usual amount for their coffee beans. All of this to say that Costa Rica as a country does a good job of promoting and managing their coffee so that they can maintain the highest quality and highest prices for their workers.