During our time here in Costa Rica, my main focus during coffee tours was sourcing. Each step in the supply chain has sourcing strategies and decisions to be made. The first step in the supply chain is a coffee farm. On coffee plantations, there are many raw materials that a farmer needs to grow healthy…

Many coffee intermediaries in Costa Rica, like Café Britt, focus on delivering high-quality coffee to their consumers. So much so, that if a coffee producer doesn’t deliver on the certain quality that a buyer wants, they can be rejected. Today, we learned that if a producer gives Café Rey a bad batch of coffee, or…

Today, we visited Café de Monteverde. They were extremely family-oriented and cared more about their environmental and societal sustainability efforts than their economic sustainability. The farm was founded by Guillermo’s father. He is now a co-owner of the farm. Guillermo’s daughter was our tour guide today. She lives an entirely different life than what she…

I am obsessed with the couple that we met today. After hearing Marvin’s story of hard work and perseverance, I couldn’t help but be filled with hope and motivation. The amount of hardships that he encountered on his journey to Costa Rica amazed me. I kept thinking to myself, “Can anything else go wrong?” And…

In both locations, I thought things looked very rural and traditional. There are signs that haven’t been repainted, spaced out houses with traditional architecture, and farmer stands every other block. Also, their society is built around nature. I think this is prevalent in Costa Rica’s mindset as well. I know there is a lot of…

Costa Rican culture is extremely traditional. Even at my homestay there are many instances of traditional ways of living that could be updated with new technology. They just choose/prefer not to change the way they do things. I think this attitude is prevalent around the country. I notice that there are a lot of things…

Today, we visited Doka and Café Britt. Doka was extremely family oriented. Hence, why the organization is now run by a 4th generation family member. Café Britt was more tourist oriented. This contrast was noticeable while touring both facilities. Café Britt’s tour was funny, interactive, but less informative. The experience was much like visiting Chocolate…

Today, we got the opportunity to learn more about Costa Rican culture from Dr. Lizano. He was extremely interesting and presented a dense amount of information. I was very excited to learn Costa Rican history from a native’s perspective. Before coming to Costa Rica, we researched and learned about environmental sustainability efforts in Costa Rica. Dr. Lizano…

Before coming to Costa Rica, I thought that the country was going to be underdeveloped. I was pleasantly surprised to see some American food chains on the drive in! Costa Rica also has strips of native restaurants and stores that I would love to explore. Also, I thought that Heredia was more suburban. However, there…

Costa Rica is building a reputation to become one of the “greenest” countries in the world. That may seem like a hefty aspiration, but they’re steadily accomplishing that goal. They were ranked second, behind Switzerland, in the World Energy Council’s global environmental sustainability ranking (The Tico Times). When it comes to overall sustainability, Costa Rica…