My last blog post for Plus3 Costa Rica! Let’s summarize what I learned about sourcing across the supply chain. At the farm level of the supply chain, sourcing labor and crops are two major concerns. Smaller, family-owned farms (like the palmito farm and banana farm we visited) can source their labor primarily from family members….
Tag: Grace Gilbert
Chowing Down on the Cacao
Chocolate and coffee are obviously two major exports of Costa Rica. As seen with Café Britt, it proves very successful for businesses when the two commodities are marketed together, especially towards tourists. This may be because the high quality coffee and chocolate sold by companies by Café Britt are considered gourmet delicacies, which heightens their…
Costa Rica, the Pineapple of my Eye
I would say the coffee supply chain is more complex than that of bananas and pineapples, especially at the manufacturer/distributor section of the supply chain. Whereas Dole and Chiquita have the most significant reign over the banana and pineapple supply chain, there is not one specific company that has the most control over the coffee…
Los Bonitos Palmitos de Costa Rica
The main parameters to grow heart of palm are plenty of sunlight and water. This works out well for the plantation we visited today, which was on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, because of how much rain that side usually gets: there’s a joke that on the Caribbean side, there’s the dry season, the…
Engi-nearing More Sustainable Farms
Inferably, grueling daily physical labor makes up most of Tico farmers’ days–but with this, I noticed that many of the decisions they make as they go about their lives are centered around environmental sustainability. For example, our tour guide at Life Monteverde today recounted how he always reminds his 12 year old son to pick…
Going Out on a Limb in the Cloud Forest
No tengo fotos otra vez. Lo siento. Economic growth (productivity) and environmental sustainability are two competing interests in Costa Rica. As Prof. Teeter mentioned during the lecture today, it’s a common practice in Costa Rica, along with many other countries, to produce as many cheap, low quality products as possible for the purpose of economic…
Losing My Terrain of Thought in All the Excitement
Unfortunately I will no be able to upload pictures because of poor connection. Lo siento mucho 😔✊ As we drove through the mountains, the first things I noticed were the fresher air quality and the increased amount of open fields. These are probably due to the higher altitude, away from the pollution of the city,…
I admit, Café Britt is tuanis.
Despite Café Britt’s popularity among tourists, the majority of native Costa Ricans don’t drink the company’s coffee. Maybe this is because Café Britt’s products are more expensive to buy in Costa Rica when compared to the lesser quality coffee that Ticos often end up buying, as Café Britt prioritizes exporting their gourmet coffee instead of…
Café the Tico Way
From what I learned in the Doka tour today, the coffee process consists of three primary steps: harvesting, peeling /drying, and roasting. Generally, Costa Rican coffee plantations only grow high quality Arabica coffee, and workers hand pick it over a 4-month harvest season spanning from October to January. Coffee berries are harvested by the cajuela…
¡Mucho Gusto, Costa Rica!
Most of my first impressions lined up well with my expectations prior to coming to Costa Rica: the people are friendly, warm, and hospitable, they use fresh ingredients in cooking, and there is a large fútbol culture, similar to many other Spanish-speaking countries. Some examples of the hospitable, warm culture I picked up today and…
Costa Rica’s Sustainability and the Pura Vida Lifestyle
Costa Rica’s initiatives in their commitment to sustainability lead me to perceive the country as progressive, wise, and respectable. Since the 1990s, the Costa Rican government has strived to implement environmental conservation policies that promote ecotourism, organic farming, environment preservation, national parks, and eventually a green economy, according to the Green Business Bureau. Costa Rica…
Hasta Pronto, Costa Rica!
Hi everyone! I’m Grace Gilbert, a freshman majoring in Materials Science and Engineering at Pitt. Some activities I’m involved in are the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE) and the special projects branch of the Society of Aeronautics and Rocketry (SOAR). This semester I interned for SASE’s executive board to help organize professional and…