Cafe!

I seriously wish that I actually liked coffee because we have seen some really cool stuff these last two days and had the chance to try some amazing coffee. Yesterday we were supposed to visit a coffee plantation in Monte Cristo but that didn't work out so we surprised a very nice woman, Daisy Rodriguez who actually just won an award for having the numer one quality coffee in Costa Rica. The plantation, Cafe Tal, was high up near the clouds and we actually walked all around all the farm and the coffee plants. I even ate a bean right off the plant. Well I spit it out after a minute because it had a weird sweet taste, but at least I tried it. I previously knew nothing about how coffee farming worked and it was interesting to learn that the coffee bean grows in a fruit. It actually just looks like red berries when it is ready to be picked.

Daisy tried to be an organic farm for three years but it wasn't working out financially so she changed back to the traditional ways. She said that the location of her farm provides some limitations because it is so high up. The altitude makes it very humid and the clouds can block the sunlight the plants need to thrive. These limits were even greater for organic plants so this contributed to her changing back to a traditional plantation. Obviously it has worked out because she has done quite well and now has an excellent product. Because she has won this award she is able to sell 100 pound bags of her sun-dried coffee for $1500 which is apparently very good. Although Daisy did not know we were coming very far in advance she provided us with some very useful information.

Hiding Among the Coffee Plants

A Ripe Coffee Bean

Today we visited Cafe Britt. Immediatelty upon entering the location we could tell that this was going to be very different than the Rodriquez farm. First of all it was in a city not off in the mountains. We took an organized and very entertaining tour instead of hiking about the hills of a farm. Here I think we learned more about coffee in general rather than the business aspect of the coffee industry in Costa Rica. Cafe Britt is a much more commercial company that has an active website and ships its products anywhere in the world. Instead of seeing simple tables where the beans are sun-dried like the day before, we were shown a very large rotating chamber that used heat to dry the beans. The amount of time spent in the roasting chamber determined weather the coffee would be a light roast, dark roast, or espresso. We were told about the common coffee sins that I know most Americans make such as reheating an old coffee, and we saw a video about the history of coffee with some dramatizations provided by our talented tour guides. Then in a true test to Cafe Britt's commercialness we had lunch in the dining area and bought products in the large gift shop.

Tour Guides at Cafe Britt

Definetly More Commercial than Cafe Tal

As I mentioned earlier, the workers at Cafe Tal seem to be working under good conditions. One big influence in the coffee industry currently is Fair Trade. Fair Trade is set up for importers of international coffee. An importer must be certified to be truly Fair Trade which means they have to meet specific standards. The coffee must be bought for a minimum price which assumes that the employees are treated fairly and are working under decent conditions. The minimum price is over $1.00 per pound which is clearly better than the average 60-70 cents that I already stated the coffee industry is experiencing. This higher price means that workers are getting paid more and they can support their family and not live in poverty even after all their hard work in the fields. The better, happier workers and the higher prices also lead to a better coffee product. There is a simple label that consumers can look for in order to insure that the coffee they are buying is certified Fair trade.

When I visited Cafe Britt´s website I found the Apr-June 2008 newsletter from the president that actually happens to be about Fair Trade. The letter poses the question of why Cafe Britt should have their product certified when they claim that they have been following these business practices from the beginning. They have been using Fair Trade methods long before it became a certifiable option. Although Cafe Britt says that they have always conducted business in a fair way and ¨pay the highest prices in the country for top quality¨ they are currently looking into a Fair Trade certification. The president said that Fair Trade favors small growers and would not certify a company as large as Cafe Britt until recently and that many Fair Trade certifications are used only as a marketing ploy to entice consumers. It was also mentioned that Cafe Britt will soon be offering a coffee that will be certified buy the Rainforest Alliance. It seems that despite the fact that they have always done business in an acceptable manner, Cafe Britt is going to give into the certifying trend in order to stay inline with competitors and please the consumers. Whether it is a ploy or not, or even if they feel it is necessary I think we will soon see Fair Trade certified Cafe Britt products.

Well that is all for now. Stay tuned to see what else I learn about coffee during my time in Costa Rica.