Today we went on the Cafe Britt Coffee Tour! When we first got there we were greeted by a very talkative goat and some creepy and maybe charming statues that kept us entertained while we waited for our tour to start. The tour itself was interactive with audience participation and chocolate rewards for correct answers to questions. We later learned that it was led by actors, not tour guides, to enhance the audience experience. The tour discussed a similar process of coffee growth and processing as we learned about in our tour of the Doka Estate yesterday. Before lunch we got to explore the butterfly garden on the site!
Upon arrival, it was obvious that this tour would be a different experience than that at the Doka Estate. This is very deliberate. After the tour, we learned some about how Cafe Britt markets itself from Hobarto. Cafe Britt’s gourmet reputation is crucial to its success. Cafe Britt does not grow its own coffee, instead, it imports the beans from other local growers. Then it roasts and packages the beans to be sold in their shops, to hotels and restaurants, and online. Their packaging, we learned, is very important. In Costa Rica, coffee used to be a commodity and it was packaged very plainly. This is very different from what Cafe Britt does. They use bright and colorful packaging, designed specifically to preserve the coffee. It also depicts animals, symbols, and colors native to where it is being sold. This provides a sense of luxury, and is also motivation to tourists to buy the coffee as a souvenir. Their gift shops are also specifically designed in this way, and they additionally stock artisan pieces from the local area that is only sold in their stores. However, while maintaining this gourmet reputation, Cafe Britt also sells to hotels, restaurants, cafeterias, and even gas stations. They are able to compete with other cheaper coffees, which clearly indicates that their strategy works. Today I hoped to learn more about their strategies for marketing towards businesses such as hotels and how they differ from their marketing strategies for tourists, however due to lack of time, I was unable to ask. I do hope to explore this further in our project with the help of the recommended case study.
After Cafe Britt, we headed back to the university and played soccer while we waited for our lecture. We got inside just as it started to pour. The thunder is especially loud here. In our lecture we learned about agriculture here and the challenges the industry currently faces. It’s interesting that the people who run such a crucial part of the economy are also some of the poorest. After the lecture, we had some dance lessons, which were way more fun than I was expecting. I’m so excited to go to Monteverde tomorrow, and I hope to see more butterflies!
