The coffee farms in Costa Rica require a lot of coordination between the farmers and the coffee pickers. The farmers must coordinate where and when the coffee pickers are staying at the farm and what benefits the pickers will be receiving. Also the farmers must assure that the coffee cherries are properly transported from tree…
Tag: Shaeleah Buntain
New Barista
A cooperative has advantages to a traditional company because all of the additional insight the cooperative has from each of the separate coffee farmers. Also in the event that there is an issue with some of the farmers then the cooperative will not completely fail because there are other separate farmers that can help the…
Icafé Engineering Technologies
Icafé has been developed to help coffee farmers in Costa Rica maximize their farming productivity. One of the innovations of Icafé is the different breeds of hybrids the company has been able to produce. The hybrids produced by Icafé have proven to increase bean yield and be more resistant to certain diseases that often affect…
Monteverde From the Ground Up
Monteverde was originally colonized by Quakers looking for a place to live to be conscientious objectors to the Korean War that was happening in the 1950s. As a result of this colonization in the mid 20th century a significant portion of the forest in Monteverde was destroyed so farms could be constructed and lumber could…
A Day in the Life of a Tico Farmer
The life of Don Guillermo differs significantly from the life of most Americans and most Ticos even. Guillermo’s day to day life involves different sectors of the Costa Rican economy: tourism and the coffee industry. Guillermo’s coffee life has to adapt to the daily challenges faced by coffee farmers. As a result of climate change…
Miles to Monteverde
It seems to me the communities leading up to Monteverde are not as affluent as the communities that we have seen around Heredia and San Jose. There was also a lot fewer communities and it was much less populated that the Central Valley. The bus ride gave us an interesting view of the Costa Rican…
Dad Jokes
It is clear that coffee and bananas have opened the door for San Jose to interact and trade with other countries. The banana trade stemmed from the creation of the railroad. The railroad could have impacted San Jose greatly if the U.S. did annex Costa Rica to connect the Pacific and the Atlantic. You still…
The More Coffee the Better
Café Britt is a unique company in the Costa Rica and internationally. I think one of the reasons Ticos do not usually drink Café Britt coffee is because of how large the company has grown. Our guest lecturer emphasized the importance of small businesses to the Costa Rican economy, and I believe Ticos want to…
Why Ticos Are the Way They Are
Obviously coffee plays a big role in the Costa Rican economy, but not so obvious is why did coffee start as the backbone of the Costa Rican economy. Why coffee started as the backbone is an interesting story. Nearly 200 years ago the government offered farmers free coffee plants for those that wanted to work….
First Impressions
Costa Rica has exceeded all of my expectations so far and it hasn’t even been a full 24 hours here. I expected to get off of the plane into a small airport with long customs lines, but I was happily surprised when the line for customs came and went quickly. When I met my host…
Tico Sustainability
I am beyond excited to start my journey to Costa Rica! I am an avid coffee drinker so one of the things I look forward to most is trying the coffee and examining the supply chain processes in this industry. Since coffee is such a large aspect of Tico culture, I anticipate learning a lot…