Today we visited Sibö Chocolate in the morning.  We had a chocolate tasting that ranged from simple milk chocolate to dark chocolate covering a caramel with traces of ginger and coconut milk.  As we tried each chocolate, we learned about the history of chocolate and business strategies of Sibö.

In Costa Rica, both coffee and chocolate are focused on quality over quantity.  We have learned how coffee fruit is hand picked to ensure the quality and ripeness of the fruit.  Chocolate as well contains a complex process in Costa Rica that requires careful technique.  For example, the drying process of cacao beans requires extensive monitoring.  There needs to be a fan inside a green house with cacao beans spread out.  If the beans lay for too long, they will be moldy and over fermented.  One last similarity is the use of technology to process the beans.  The beans both come from a fruit, and can be made into a variety of different projects.  The coffee mill has much technology used to process just like the cacao beans use a grinder that is fueled by hydraulic power.

Similar to risks threatening the coffee supply chain, the chocolate supply chain in Costa Rica has numerous threats.  One of these is other places producing more amounts of cheaper cacao.  Africa produces a large quantity of cacao beans that competes with Costa Rica’s cacao.  However, Costa Rica’s quality sets them apart.  Another challenge is that farmers are not paid as much for growing cacao bean.  Therefore, they are not as inclined to grow the plant.  Sibö aimed to solve this by raising the price of cacao and raising the price of chocolate, but the super markets said that this will make less people want to buy the expensive chocolate.  This balance between paying the farmer enough money and charging an affordable price for the chocolate is a challenge.

Companies like Sibö, Britt, and Riverside all are working to make farming and growing food more sustainable.  They all offer an experience for guests to visit their land and learn about their innovations.  Sibö focused especially on creating an environmentally conscious packaging.  They use the husk of coffee beans to make paper which packages their products.  The final packaging is 95% cacao shell and 5% recycled paper.  Britt also has sustainable practices such as using their recycled packaging to create shopping bags, and they are planning to sort coffee beans with a process that does not need large amounts of water.  Riverside focuses on a cycle of farm to table to farm.  They grow a majority of their products outside in their garden and serve this to guests.  From extra food scraps, they compost and make soil for the gardens.  For gray water, water from their sinks, they have a natural filtration system that they can use as an irrigation system for the garden.  Overall, these companies are focusing on balancing protection of the environment with social and economical interests.  They can serve as an example for other companies to follow.