After learning about coffee farming at Doka yesterday, today’s visit to Café Britt gave us a completely different look at the coffee industry—one focused on branding, roasting, and delivery.
Our morning started with an amazing tour guide that walked us through the coffee journey—from the trees that grow cherries to how those cherries are harvested, roasted, and packaged. We tasted different blends and saw how much detail goes into preserving freshness. After the tour, we met with an operations manager and asked questions about Britt’s delivery model and global logistics.
Unlike Doka, which produces and sells green beans, Café Britt handles the later stages: roasting to order, packaging, and exporting the final product. Their coffee is immediately sealed in plastic and aluminum to block out light, moisture, and oxygen. Instead of selling through stores in the U.S., they ship one container of coffee each month to U.S. warehouses. Countries with lower demand, like Latvia, receive just one shipment per year.
From our group’s focus on delivery, Café Britt stood out for its thoughtful and sustainable approach. They deliver only to stable markets, collaborate with community programs like SIFAIS to provide jobs and education, and operate using 65% solar energy. They also reuse packaging in construction projects, showing a clear commitment to social and environmental impact—not just product distribution. They’re continuing to grow and hope to break into U.S. retail through stores like Whole Foods. That could be a smart move, but I think they’d also benefit from regional fulfillment centers to cut down on shipping time and emissions.
Beyond the logistics, Café Britt knows how to create a memorable experience. With coffee and chocolate samples around every corner, a cozy café on-site, and friendly staff, it’s easy to see why tourists spend so much there .Surprisingly, coffee isn’t even their best-selling product. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s the chocolate—there was an entire wall dedicated to it. After sampling all of them a few times, I ended up leaving with two different flavors to take home!
We wrapped up the day with a group dance class, which was super fun and different. Tomorrow, we head to Monteverde, I’m excited to see what is in store for us there!