Cafe #4

Just this April Daisy Rodriguez's coffee plantation was named the best coffee in Costa Rica. I have found some newspaper articles about it, but unfortunately everything is in Spanish and therefore not of much help to me. 

When I am in the United States everything is about Starbucks. Sure there are plenty of other coffee companies out there but Starbucks is by far the biggest and most well-known. Here in Costa Rica the Starbucks equivalent is Cafe Britt, another large corporate coffee company. Although these are the major producers in their respective countries, they do not necessarily have the best product on the market. I find it to be quite interesting that a relatively small farm such as CafeTal was the winner of the best quality coffee over its bigger competitors. Daisy's farm was nothing like that of Cafe Britt. There were no organized tours, no restaurant and no gift shop. It was just a simple coffee plantation that happens to make wonderful coffee. I do not drink coffee so I do not know a whole lot about the coffee industry in the United States, but I am sure that it is pretty similar in the States. Many people probably prefer coffee from smaller companies that may make a better product than Starbucks. Starbucks seems like a good enough company who tries to do right by the world and even pays among the highest prices for sustainably produced coffee, but again that does not mean that they have the best coffee products. 

The next time I go to a small cafe I will pay more attention to where the coffee comes from, what types are offered and how much people seem to like it. I can do the same thing when I wander through any grocery store. There is usually a pretty large section dedicated to coffee ranging from the simple Folgers instant coffee to the higher end gourmet and international products.  I will definitely notice what country the coffee comes from, how much it costs, and how well it seems to sell. The coffee industry is an interesting business especially with all the recent trends in organic and sustainable products. I think that if I did drink coffee on a regular basis I would notice the difference between the corporate suppliers and the more home-grown feel coffee. And even though I did enjoy the visit to Cafe Britt and I have nothing against Starbucks, I think I would have to choose the smaller companies just as some sort of rebellion against big corporate companies. 

Cafe #3!

Since visiting Cafe Britt a couple of weeks ago, I have noticed that Cafe Britt products are sold everywhere. Every little restaurant or shop seems to sell Cafe Britt. Cafe Britt is by far the most commercial company we have visited while in Costa Rica. As mentioned previously Cafe Tal is a much smaller company and I honestly do not even know how you go about getting the Del Cafe Tal coffee. I do not know what the packages look like or who buys from the farm. Although it offers a high quality product, Cafe Tal is just a small grower that did not seem to have much exposure until recently. Cafe Britt on the other hand offers dozens of products including multiple coffee roasts, chocolates, gourmet coffee beans and other beverages such as hot chocolate and coffee liquor. You could make a meal out of all the things they offer and you can have it sent anywhere you desire. We did not get to have a private question time with anyone at Cafe Britt like we did with Daisy Rodriguez so I do not know a whole lot about the company aside from what they explained in the tour, but I would be interested in knowing how their selling prices compare to the prices that Daisy sells for. Their website states that they pay high prices and I know that Daisy earns a very good price on her products, so I wonder what a difference being such a large company can make. The Cafe Britt name is certainly more recognizable so I just wonder what affects that has on their business and on their products. Being so commercial I would almost think that they could slack off on the quality, or social issues a little simply because they reach so many consumers, so if they lost a few it would not really make much of a difference. At the same time, they need to work hard to please the consumer because the shear volume of customers is so high and if they do something that the consumers do not like, well then they are bascially screwed. But the word they are putting out there is that they are a company of fairness and quality and I think I believe it. They seem like a pretty genuine company to me. When we visited, the guides and workers seemed happy enough. They claim to pay well, they offer organic products, and will soon be adding the certification to their coffee. Based on our visit, the company website and the products I sampled, Cafe Britt seems to be a company that wants to make good products, please their consumers, and do so while helping the environment when they can.

I have not tried any Cafe Britt coffee but I can say that the hot cocoa and the chocolates are phenomenal. I did try Daisy's coffee but since I do not actually like coffee at all, I would not be able to say if it was any good or not. So I am not the person to ask which I prefer, but from my point of view, both plantations seem to be decent companies run by decent people.

Cafe #2!

Well we didn't get the chance to visit an organic coffee plantation first hand, but the entire food industry is experiencing a boom in organics and coffee is no exception. Organic coffee is grown in a way that greatly reduces the impact on the surrounding environment when compared to traditional coffee growing ways. Traditional growing of any crop can use large amounts of toxic chemicals and pesticides that are clearly unhealthy for the environment and obviously not too good for humans either. Growing organically means greatly reducing and eliminating these dangerous chemicals to produce natural plants and products. Organic production also means that the soil and land will actually be replenished through the growing process instead of being depleted of all its rich nutrients. As with Fair Trade coffee, farmers can have their products

certified as organic and their products will then carry an organic label.

As we learn more and more about all of the harmful things we are doing to the environment and about all the awful things that are put into our food and into our bodies each day, consumers are pushing for more natural ingredients and more environmentally-friendly ways of doing things. In the United States organic coffee sales rose 24% from 2005 to 2006. I know that in the past, I have not typically bought a lot of organic products simply because they are more expensive and as a college student I am pretty much broke. However after taking this rather depressing course and learning more about the environment and all the toxins I am exposed to every day, I think I will be much more likely to purchase organic items. I would like to know how much of a difference there is between making the traditional foods and beverages we are used to versus making them using organic processes. I know Daisy Rodriguez said that she transformed her coffee farm into an organic plantation for a few years but it didn't work out. But she also stated that some of this was due to the high location of her fields. I wonder if it would have worked out better for her is her plantation was in a different location. If it isn't terribly difficult to convert to organic ways and it results in better products and healthier consumers then I would hope that many major food manufacturers would enter the organic market. Currently of the 107 countries that grow coffee only 40 of those countries produce organic coffee products. That is less than half of the coffee growing population even though organic farming is proven to be better for the world and for coffee drinkers. But as I said the organic demand is growing so hopefully this statistic will soon be changing for the better.

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.