Today was day 3 of our time in Costa Rica, and I could not be more pleased with how the trip has been going so far! Even though the day was packed to the brim with activities, I was still able to enjoy every experience individually. The first activity of the day was partaking in a tour of Café Britt, which was a whopping 10 minute bus ride from our meeting point. So treacherous. Our tour guides, María Jesús and Luis, led us through the coffee tour and explained how the coffee cherries are grown in the nursery. Once a coffee plant has reached toddler-age, around three years old, they can officially graduate from the nursery to the plantation. A coffee plant can last up to twenty-five years on the plantation before getting removed. Similar to yesterday’s tour of Doka Estate, we learned about the sustainability practices regarding the removal of the coffee plant. Stems can be used while composting and the wood is burned to produce fuel. However, this burning is for a very important cause, cooking chicken! Throughout the tour, we had the opportunity to taste a variety of coffees from different regions of Costa Rica. Although I am not a huge coffee fan, I still tried all of them, because you never know if you don’t like something unless you try it. After visiting the butterfly garden on the property, the tour guides put on a play about the different regions in Costa Rica and their coffee, as well as demonstrating how a coffee tasting works. Altogether, the tour was extremely interactive and kept me engaged for the entire duration. Later, I found out this is because the tour guides were really actors, and I felt betrayed.   

Not too long ago, Café Britt bought Doka Estate. A major difference between Café Britt and Doka Estate is that Café Britt is merely a coffee roaster, instead of a coffee plantation. Café Britt buys all their coffee beans from plantations all around Costa Rica to create their special blends. I presume the reason why Ticos generally abstain from drinking coffee from Café Britt is because it is very expensive. Café Britt only sells gourmet coffee that is sold at a higher price than most Ticos would be willing to pay. Therefore, Ticos buy lower quality coffee at a cheaper price-point because it tastes sufficient for what they are looking for. Roberto, who is a manager at Café Britt, had an interesting presentation on the business model of Café Britt and the origins of the company. Some more specific topics included mergers and acquisitions, e-commerce, and the physical stores within Costa Rica and other neighboring countries. Roberto pointed out how crucial chocolate and tourism is to Café Britt because both products make up a large portion of the revenue. He also shared the method of how Café Britt develops a new product during the planning process. Finally, Roberto shared how during the pandemic, they had to lay off 85% of employees. However, they were able to hire 90% of them back after a year, displaying the company’s resilience.

After arriving at the university for a guest lecture and dance lessons later in the afternoon, all of us played a game of soccer. I loved seeing everyone participate, despite their skill level. One of my favorite activities from the whole day was the dance lesson. I was entertained watching all my classmates all try their best to keep up with the steps. It was much more difficult than it looked! Especially, when we had to let our partner lead us through the room blindfolded and keep to the rhythm of the music. The three dances we learned the basics of were Salsa, Bachata, and Merengue. The instructor taught us some basic steps and then we split off into pairs to apply what we learned. I will definitely be signing up for another Latin dance class in the future!