All supply chains must start somewhere, and in the case of crops like coffee, that is on the farm. Coffee beans are extracted from berries, which grow on trees or shrubs. The berries ripen between October and January and must be hand-picked because they don’t all ripen simultaneously; pickers must only pick the ripened ones…
Tag: Rishi Raturi
MMMMMMMMMM Chocolate (Yummy)
It is well known that chocolate, the delicious treat we all love, comes from a bitter bean native to Central America. What is slightly less well known is that coffee and chocolate have swapped locations globally, with the majority of coffee, which is native to Africa, is grown in South/Central America and chocolate is mostly…
Bananas are Costa Rica’s largest export, and it’s easy to see why. Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast is always the perfect climate for growing bananas, which can grow year round. Furthermore the supply chain for bananas is very short; they can be harvested, quality checked, then shipped by the bunch without any special equipment. It is…
Corazon del Palmito
Today, we visited a small palmito (heart of palm) farm on the Carribean side of Costa Rica. Stepping off the bus, I was immediate hit by humidity of the place; something we were spared from by living in the central valley. This was in stark contrast to the coffee plantations we visited earlier in this…
Living la Vida Monteverde
Small farms in Costa Rica, as with many other countries, are family owned and operated. Medium sized farms are similar except they need to hire help. Tico farmers, regardless of whether or not they own a farm, have been working on farms basically their whole lives. This was the case with our guide at LIFE…
Llegado en Monteverde (presentado internet malo)
Unfortunately, the Wi-Fi was not good enough for me to upload/download pictures 🙁 Today, for about two hours, we saw rural, non-tourist Costa Rica. Far enough from the central valley, Costa Rica doesn’t really have highways, only main roads. Along those main roads, I saw many sodas, small, family operated restaurants where patrons can get…
Cafe Excursion de Cafe Britt
Despite exporting some of the highest quality coffee in the world, Costa Ricans (Ticos) don’t drink coffee of that quality. One reason for this is that Ticos drink coffee with lots of milk and sugar, so the flavor of the coffee itself, thus the quality, is irrelevant. Another reason I believe this is the case…
Cultivar Café en Costa Rica
Coffee is one of Costa Rica’s most famous exports despite it only generating 2% of the country’s value from exports. Behind that are extremely powerful marketing forces employed by the Costa Rican coffee producers to maintain a high brand value, allowing them to charge a premium. As mentioned previously, the Costa Rican coffee industry is…
Primer (Segundo) Día
We arrived in Costa Rica yesterday, but today was the first day of guided activities. Yesterday was a chance for us to get accustomed to the weather and meet our host families. Our Mama Tica, Maria Elena Vargas Romero, was as friendly as the pre-departure meetings made them seem. She gave us sandwiches as soon…
Sustainability in Costa Rica
Between the 1940s and 1987, Costa Rica’s forested area dropped from 75% to 40% to clear land for agriculture. In the 1990s, Costa Rican political leaders realized continuing development in this direction was unsustainable, and enacted policies to reverse that. In 1996, the government passed Forestry Law 7575, which made it illegal to harvest trees…