Each step of the supply chain must deliver a specific product to the next step in order to produce coffee for the customer. When it comes to the farm, ripe coffee cherries must be delivered to the mill. As the cherries are picked by the workers they are measured by volume and placed in a…
Tag: Paul McPartland
Cooperation is Key
Cooperatives provide several advantages to smaller plantations who are willing to work together to maximize their profits. Smaller plantations can’t afford to purchase the equipment to produce and sell roasted coffee beans, so they often end up losing out on the profit that such procedures provide. Working as a cooperative also provides stability for the…
Mind your nanners!
Both the banana and pineapple plantations took steps to ensure that they were acting in a sustainable way. Both plantations were organic, so they don’t use synthetic pesticides, and making sure their crops are not contaminated by any chemicals. Both plantations also use parts of their plants as compost that then gets turned into fertilizer…
Ailing in Arenal
Both Monteverde and Arenal are areas focused on ecotourism and sustainability, but they each have their own differences. Arenal is focused on the ecotourism brought about by the Arenal volcano and its hot springs. Sustainability is important to Arenal, and they have plenty of measures in place to show that. For example, the hotel rooms…
Live, Life, Love
Tico farmers such as Don Guillermo live a simple, minimalist, way of life. Don Guillermo is not concerned with making as much money as possible, he only wants to make enough to live comfortably, and he focuses the rest of his energy on making sure that his farm is beneficial to the environment. Don Guillermo…
Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold
Humanity will never be able to be be as productive as possible, while also protecting and conserving all of nature. If people want to grow the most food possible, they will have to destroy many different ecosystems in order to achieve this goal. On the other hand, if humanity wants to conserve and restore nature…
The Big Green Mountain
The communities that we drove through on the way to Monteverde was more what I expected from Costa Rica, with the sparse villages, and individual houses all over the mountains. I found it ironic that the people in more remote locations seemed less surprised by the tour bus than the ones that live in the…
Tourist Trap Tours
I’m not surprised that Ticos don’t seem to like the coffee sold by cafe brit. Cafe Brit is not really a coffee company as much as it is a marketing company. They take advantage of the relative lack of knowledge that tourists have about coffee, and say that they are a gourmet brand. Ticos most…
Dia des los Doka
As we toured the Doka Estate coffee plantation, I was fascinated by how simple and almost primitive the technology to produce coffee is. I was impressed by how the extra fruit trees were used to keep pests from eating the coffee. It isn’t a complete replacement for pesticides, but it’s a simple addition that greatly…
Hopping around Heredia
In all honesty, I don’t know what I was expecting from Costa Rica, but I was surprised nonetheless. A lot of the house styles remind me of Florida, especially the colors of the buildings and the wildlife. I saw a few lizards that looked exactly like the ones I saw on my trip to Disney…
Hola!
Costa Rica is well known for its beautiful landscape, from the amazing beaches to the stunning rainforests. As human lifestyles affect nature more and more, it is no surprise that a country with as much nature as Costa Rica has put immense effort into preserving the beauty it has. Costa Rican efforts to preserve their…