While my group and I were assigned to pay attention to the planning of each company tour we had and how those operations planned and figured out the most efficient ways to put the best product forward, I really absorbed every single aspect of each company to allow me to see the larger picture. So,…
Tag: Blu Trush
Boy, Am I in a Lot of Truffle
Now that I know how chocolate is supposed to taste, no other chocolate confection will every satisfy me. This trip has educated me a whole bunch, but what it really has taught me is how much we are missing out in the US. And while coffee and chocolate are similar in their supply chains, what…
Call Me As You Would a Royal Pineapple, Please.
(Pineapple Queen with her royal lollipop) I would like to go by your royal pine-ness now, thank you. Pineapples, bananas and plantains are forever ruined for me in the US, I can never eat another pineapple again knowing it wasn’t cut by a machete on a tractor and delivered to us from the plant. The…
Trend Alert: Heart of Palm is IN!
Breaking breaking! Heart of palm is in for our new favorite ingredient substitute. Gone are our tofu scrambles, and in comes heart of palm ceviche. Out of bananas for your banana bread? Don’t fret, heart of palm makes an incredible sweet bread. These creative uses of heart of palm are something I will be bringing…
Man, I’m Getting Deja Brew
On our final day in Monteverde we visited another coffee plantation which, this time, operated as an entire farm. We had the ultimate farm-to-table experience with seeing the vegetables that were growing end up in our salad, witnessing the tents that housed the herbs that seasoned our chicken and slurping the coffee that was processed…
We Have to Get Our Heads Out of the Clouds: A Sustainability Post
How do we balance what is best for the earth, what is best for our society and what is best for our economy? Today I learned that we are never truly balanced and in total sustainability, but rather are always moving forward towards attaining it. This is a relationship that people around the world are…
Diary of a Quaker Kid: The Long Haul
Beautiful Monteverde. Never have I felt like I have been in a jungle resort, but this place has accomplished that. While driving along the winding roads there was a variety of types of homes and properties that I saw. From homes that resembled shacks that were constructed of sheet metal and various scraps, to resort-type…
It’s Britt-ney Britt
(Me, a chosen volunteer, showing how to professionally smell coffee with Maria) Coffee continues to amaze me. What a craft and system that goes behind such a fascinating yet essential product. Now, Café Britt was a different approach to the tour of their premises, but were also a different business model. While Doka were producers…
To All the Beans I’ve Loved Before
Coffee is such a large American culture, but have we ever thought where those beans even come from? How do we get the product we know and love in such a speedy, efficient and delicious fashion? Today, Doka’s farm offered all the answers to our questions. Everything from the pickers that personally choose the beans…
Having a ball in Heredia
Now that I have my first twenty-four hours in Costa Rica under my belt, the real fun begins! While the language barrier has been difficult for me, I am thankful my host “sisters”, Krista and Grace, have more Spanish skills and experience under their belt. It is true that you start catching on quickly but…
The Sustainability of Costa Rica
Before we head of to our incredible adventure overseas, we were asked to think about the sustainability of Costa Rica. From our prompt I learned that “Costa Rica consistently ranks in the top 20 of World Energy Council’s global ‘environmental sustainability’ ranking.” This is not surprising to me as our pre-departure meetings touched on the…
Heading Over the Big Blu Sea
Hi! I am Blu Trush, a first year engineering student traveling with the Plus3 program to Costa Rica. I am from Cincinnati, Ohio, making me a Bengals fan and a Cincinnati Skyline Chili lover. Still staying on the true Cincinnatian bus, this summer I will be working with Cincinnati’s MLB team, The Reds, as an…