Get ready, this one’s a long one. I can’t believe that my last day in Costa Rica is actually here. I have learned more about Costa Rican culture, and of course about the coffee process, than I would have imagined. I will definitely be a proud coffee snob back in the States. I analyzed the…

In the early 1960s, a coffee cooperative, Coopedota, was created in order to benefit local coffee farmers within the fertile Tarrazu region. The cooperative presented its mission as a commitment to furthering the economic, environmental, and social development of the beautiful surrounding landscape. Coopedota currently consists of 900 active partners. These partners appoint a board…

While coffee currently only accounts for around 3% of the nation’s GDP, there is no doubt that much of Costa Rica’s development and success in the previous two centuries can be accredited to coffee production and exportation. The early days of Costa Rica as a nation were plagued with widespread poverty and underdevelopment. Ironically, the…

Life Monteverde is a family owned farm and coffee plantation that truly embodies sustainability. L.I.F.E in the name stands for Low Impact For Earth; this serves as a guide by which they have modeled their farm, and life after. The people at Life Monteverde consistently go the extra mile to implement more eco-friendly practices to reduce…

Disclaimer: The events mentioned in this blog sound completely unrealistic movie plot, but they are actually true In 1951, a small group of quakers emigrated from Alabama to a mountainous region in Costa Rica. The region had no electricity, no medical care near by, and no name. In the lecture today, I had the pleasure…

After experiencing different environments while travelling throughout the country, I can say that Costa Rica, although a small nation, is a diverse one. What struck me most when first arriving in Heredia, was the urbanization and presence of various chain restaurants. I was not expecting the level of development, and crowdedness within the province. Rather,…

Technological innovation has been revolutionizing industry after industry. Think Amazon drones, self driving Ubers, and even Pancake bots (???). In the food industry, corporations such as Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts have utilized technology such as mobile ordering to improve in store efficiency and cut down time in lines for customers. Yet the coffee plantations I’ve…

Today I was able to visit Cafe Britt: a diversified company bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars annually in one sector alone. The business model of Cafe Britt is extremely unique, unlike other estates we have visited and learned about. Cafe Britt falls at or near the end of the supply chain, depending on…

The perspective of a Tico, written by a foreigner. Prior to this trip, all of my knowledge regarding Costa Rica came from a wildly colorful guidebook  that condensed hundreds of years of history and culture into a book the size of my palm. This condensing of history naturally led to some false notions about the…

I came into this trip with no expectations, yet Costa Rica has still surprised me. Naively, and again, knowing nothing about the country, I pictured Costa Rica as all rainforests and mountains. While this holds true in certain areas, and is still what I picture for Monteverde, I was surprised by the urbanization and utter…

First Impressions At a time in which the environment is of major global concern, more people are looking toward organizations, companies, and countries to take initiative and adopt greener practices. Costa Rica is a front-runner in this, and can serve as a model for other nations. The nation comes in at second, only behind Switzerland, in the…