Today, we visited Cafe Britt. Before our tour, we had time to look around. We got a preview of the information we would learn more about on the tour, and we got to pet goats and sheep. The tour was fun. The tour guides were some of the most enthusiastic I have ever seen. We all learned a lot and enjoyed our time. As we went through the coffee process at Cafe Britt, there were checkpoints with opportunities to try their coffee. I am still not a fan of coffee, but I tried a few cups. I thought it was okay. Others enjoyed the samples, so the coffee was probably good.
Information was thrown at us during the tour, but it was all easily digestible. We learned about the history of Cafe Britt. Cafe Britt started giving coffee tours in 1991: they realized that tourism was popular and marketing to people from the United States and Europe could be beneficial. The market in Costa Rica contained cheap coffee that they could not compete with. Ticos would have to pay three times as much for Cafe Britt’s coffee. The tourists appreciated the higher quality more than the Ticos. Unlike other destinations, Cafe Britt uses actors to tell a story and excite tourists. This is a great approach. They know all of the information and can put on a show.
Cafe Britt produces and sells gourmet products. Chocolate is another product produced at Cafe Britt and possibly the most popular. Unlike other coffee businesses, Cafe Britt focuses on how the created coffee gets to your cup. Yesterday, at Doka, the emphasis was on the origins of coffee (growing and processing). Cafe Britt focuses on the roasting, creation of drinks, and brewing. Cafe Britt is at a different step in the supply chain. Cafe Britt depends on third parties selling coffee to them. Executives realized this method was risky, so they purchased property like Doka to keep some of the production in their hands.
My focus in this program is on delivery, and there are some differences I have found in Cafe Britt’s process. Cafe Britt delivers coffee to distribution centers, where they are given to stores to sell. One of the distribution centers is in Florida; another is in Santa Barbara Heredia. Heredia has been a lot of fun, and I am excited to return in a few days. Now, I can’t wait to see Monteverde.