Today was a really sweet day! We had a wonderful chocolate tasting at Sibö and we learned all about chocolate’s history and industry. The tasting was led by one of the owners and he is a historian. He provided lots of very interesting information and made the tasting special. We got to try unique types of chocolate. We started with the Cocoa fruit. It was slimy and surprisingly citrusy. We then tasted the native chocolate drink and ended with a variety of different bon bons. It was really interesting to see how almost everything we had done on this trip related to the Chocolate industry in someway. Climate change and labor issues are also effecting chocolate as much as they are effecting coffee. We then went to a farm to table restaurant called Riverside. We got a tour of the beautiful restaurant and farm. The food was delicious and I had a wonderful time.
The relationship between coffee and chocolate is really interesting. Both processes come from a fruit that has been enjoyed for centuries. A part of the coffee cherrie is often used to create chocolate and allows a company to become profitable from both. Their industries are important to Costa Rica but not the main supporter of the economy. Some of the greatest supply chain challenges that the chocolate industry faces is transportation because it can be very expensive and since chocolate can melt it is important to transport the chocolate quickly. Sibö is unique in that they decided to cut out brokers and intermediaries in order to cut costs. However, this is a profit limiter because without these middle people it is extremely difficult to enter the US market. Sibö is similar to cafe Britt and Riverside because they do not waste any products. For example at Sibö parts of parchment from the dried cacao bean is used to make their boxes in order to save trees. At Riverside they grow 90% of the food that is served and even use old coffee tree trunks in order to fuel their fire brick ovens. Cafe Britt even produces their own chocolate using the peel of the chocolate cherry.
Today was a lot of fun and full of lots interesting information. I am excited for the more to come! Hasta Luego.
