I have spent two weeks traveling across Costa Rica, visiting multiple different coffee plantations: Doka Estate, Café Britt, Life Monteverde, Café Rey, and Coopedota. Each is different and approaches the coffee making process in their own way. The industry, culture, and environment of coffee is so complex. Being here has given so much depth to…

The Coopedota cooperative was founded in 1960. It began as a group of 96 farms. Now, the cooperative has over 900 participants all based in the Tarrazzú region. The families elect a board of directors who appoint a general manager for the cooperative. Every year, new rules and regulations are put in place for the…

Costa Rica has acquired many benefits from coffee exportations taking off. With lots of money coming in from the coffee trade, many people were brought out of poverty. More jobs in the agricultural sector were available and in other sectors when development started taking off. The quality of life and standard of living improved. Better…

  Today, we visited Life Monteverde Café. It’s a small plantation located in the high elevations of the cloud forest. The farm is family-owned and very focused on social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Yesterday, we talked to Don Guillermo, and today we talked to his daughter and some of the farmers on the plantation. They…

Today, an old man named Marvin spoke to us about his life. When he was a young man he lived in Alabama in the United States. After WWII, when a new draft law was created he refused to register  because it was against his Quaker beliefs. Marvin and his community members were sent to prison…

Costa Rica has sent my head spinning. It is a place like no other. Sometimes it is beautiful, warm, and sunny. Sometimes I get back to my temporary home drenched, my notebooks and backpack sopping wet, making a puddle that won’t dry for days because of the high humidity. It makes sense why everything is…

The Universidad de Veritas is one of the only universities in Costa Rica specialized in art and technology. It is working hard to teach its local and international students to use the rapidly devolving technologies and programs of today. This technology revolution is changing how the world works, and consequently altering how people do business….

Today, we ventured to Doka Estate and Café Britt to start learning about coffee. The respective coffee plantations and roasting facilities were quite different. While Doka Estate is a medium sized family-owned coffee plantation focused on growing good quality beans and exporting the majority of those beans (they only roast about 5% of their crop…

Costa Rica has a very interesting abnormal history for Latin America. Joaquín Lizano, a resident of  and a professor of many disciplines currently specializing in intercultural communication, gave us a lecture on Costa Rican history today.  He gave me a new background and more perspective of Costa Rica which I’ll explain through a few questions…

I gasped when I walked outside this morning. The sun was shining, the sky was bright blue, puffy clouds floated overhead. Lush green mountains were visible in the distance. Colorful houses, palm trees, and beautiful plants and flowers filled the neighborhood. It was a moment I won’t ever forget. Heredia is a small city with…

In a few days I’ll be on a plane to Costa Rica but until then I’m getting psyched doing research and last minute packing. Did you know Costa Rica is ranked second in the world for its environmental sustainability by the World Energy Council! It has a few major sustainability initiatives that put it at…