10 Temmuz 2012 Salı
9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi
Day 3 Café Britt Tour
To contact us Click HERE
Hola!
Today we headed to Barva de Heredia for a tour of Café Britt, the first gourmet coffee roaster in Costa Rica. Upon arrival we were greeted by enthusiastic and highly entertaining tour guides who provided us with a lot of information, fun facts, and history about the production of coffee. The tour began with a brief explanation of the history of coffee, focusing on where it started and how it ultimately ended up in Costa Rica. The guide explained that the Costa Rican economy was rejuvenated by entering into the coffee industry, which is why coffee continues to be a major component of the Costa Rican culture.
We then visited the nursery where we learned that it grows in the nursery for a year before they plant it in the field. Then, we ventured through the coffee plants to see sustainable pest control, which was really different and creative. They use a handmade contraption consisting of plastic cups, a lid, string, water and a little bit of alcohol (the bugs like rum). These mechanisms are hung in the coffee bushes. The bugs get drunk and fly into the water where they drown, but at least they are happy.
Next stop on the tour was the roasting and packaging process. Café Britt is primarily a roaster. While they do grow their own beans, the majority of their coffee is purchased from organic shade grown farms in the area. Although they take pride in using sustainable production measures and producing organic coffee, they shared this interesting fact with us, “Costa Rica produces 2% of the world’s coffee however, only 5% of that is organic”. We found this to be very interesting considering the trend of companies moving toward organic and sustainable products. We learned that Café Britt packages their coffee in specialized bags that allow the coffee to stay fresh for a year before it is opened and up to a month after.
We then learned the cupping process for the second time. Their techniques were very similar however this time we were offered tips on how we as consumers can keep the coffee fresh and delicious like they do. We ended the tour with a traditional Costa Rican lunch and lots of delicious coffee.
In conjunction with what we learned yesterday a lot of loose ends were tied up allowing us to obtain a greater understanding of what it takes for coffee to go from bean to cup. Pura Vida!
Tips for a great tasting coffee:
Today we headed to Barva de Heredia for a tour of Café Britt, the first gourmet coffee roaster in Costa Rica. Upon arrival we were greeted by enthusiastic and highly entertaining tour guides who provided us with a lot of information, fun facts, and history about the production of coffee. The tour began with a brief explanation of the history of coffee, focusing on where it started and how it ultimately ended up in Costa Rica. The guide explained that the Costa Rican economy was rejuvenated by entering into the coffee industry, which is why coffee continues to be a major component of the Costa Rican culture.
We then visited the nursery where we learned that it grows in the nursery for a year before they plant it in the field. Then, we ventured through the coffee plants to see sustainable pest control, which was really different and creative. They use a handmade contraption consisting of plastic cups, a lid, string, water and a little bit of alcohol (the bugs like rum). These mechanisms are hung in the coffee bushes. The bugs get drunk and fly into the water where they drown, but at least they are happy. Next stop on the tour was the roasting and packaging process. Café Britt is primarily a roaster. While they do grow their own beans, the majority of their coffee is purchased from organic shade grown farms in the area. Although they take pride in using sustainable production measures and producing organic coffee, they shared this interesting fact with us, “Costa Rica produces 2% of the world’s coffee however, only 5% of that is organic”. We found this to be very interesting considering the trend of companies moving toward organic and sustainable products. We learned that Café Britt packages their coffee in specialized bags that allow the coffee to stay fresh for a year before it is opened and up to a month after.
We then learned the cupping process for the second time. Their techniques were very similar however this time we were offered tips on how we as consumers can keep the coffee fresh and delicious like they do. We ended the tour with a traditional Costa Rican lunch and lots of delicious coffee.In conjunction with what we learned yesterday a lot of loose ends were tied up allowing us to obtain a greater understanding of what it takes for coffee to go from bean to cup. Pura Vida!
Tips for a great tasting coffee:
- Purchase pre-ground coffee unless you have a proper grinder and know how to do so. It makes all the difference in the taste. Fine ground coffee is only for espresso.
- Do not leave your coffee in the pot for more than 10 minutes.
- Consume coffee within 20 minutes of pouring.
- In order to preserve coffee throughout the day keep it in a thermos.
Day 3 San Jose CIty Tour
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Buenos Dias!
Our trip to downtown San Jose yesterday was both entertaining and educational. We stopped at market central, which is like a huge indoor flee market flooded with souvenirs and items more suited for the locals such as raw and dried meat assortments (it seemed like every kind of animal and body part were there), live animals (hundreds of little chicks), used and new clothing and footwear. We noticed many differences from American practice such as 1) female mannequin's have larger thighs and are more curvey than their American counterparts, 2) you can negotiate at all of the stores for a better price, 3) stores showcase merchandise in the store window with price stickers large enough to see without coming in, which might be practiced to prevent people from coming in and touching all of the clothes to find pricing, and 4) The store workers were so accommodating.
Next, we visited a coffee shop to interview the salespeople and observe the pricing and display. One of our students tested his broken Spanish and asked questions for the group. We learned that organic coffee was almost double the price of regular coffee, and that single seed (very rare) coffee beans sell for the same premium. It was great to see the retailing perspective of the coffee industry.
We were very lucky to take a tour of the National Theater. This beautiful theater was built by coffee farmers as a place to enjoy culture and the arts. The architecture screams Italian and French influence, and even the women depicted in the paintings on the ceilings are very fair skinned, misrepresenting Costa Ricans. We assume the painter didn’t do his homework! Regardless, it was refreshing to know that coffee farmers had such a strong influence on the culture of the Costa Ricans as the theater is still active.
To continue our cultural journey, we headed to the Pre-Colombian Gold Museum to admire gold pieces of art collected for centuries. We found out that although Costa Rica is rich in gold the conservation of the Rainforest is their number one priority. We also viewed a special exhibit featuring large cats like the Cougar. Can you tell what kind of cat this is?
We completed the day with dinner at a local San Jose restaurant. Everyone seemed to enjoy their fresh-squeezed fruit drinks (like guava, passion fruit, strawberry) and large platters of traditional Costa Rican cuisine (steak, chicken, seafood, rice). One student even claimed that her seafood soup was the best she has ever had! Muy Bueno!
Bryant University Sustainability Marketing 385
Our trip to downtown San Jose yesterday was both entertaining and educational. We stopped at market central, which is like a huge indoor flee market flooded with souvenirs and items more suited for the locals such as raw and dried meat assortments (it seemed like every kind of animal and body part were there), live animals (hundreds of little chicks), used and new clothing and footwear. We noticed many differences from American practice such as 1) female mannequin's have larger thighs and are more curvey than their American counterparts, 2) you can negotiate at all of the stores for a better price, 3) stores showcase merchandise in the store window with price stickers large enough to see without coming in, which might be practiced to prevent people from coming in and touching all of the clothes to find pricing, and 4) The store workers were so accommodating.
Next, we visited a coffee shop to interview the salespeople and observe the pricing and display. One of our students tested his broken Spanish and asked questions for the group. We learned that organic coffee was almost double the price of regular coffee, and that single seed (very rare) coffee beans sell for the same premium. It was great to see the retailing perspective of the coffee industry. We were very lucky to take a tour of the National Theater. This beautiful theater was built by coffee farmers as a place to enjoy culture and the arts. The architecture screams Italian and French influence, and even the women depicted in the paintings on the ceilings are very fair skinned, misrepresenting Costa Ricans. We assume the painter didn’t do his homework! Regardless, it was refreshing to know that coffee farmers had such a strong influence on the culture of the Costa Ricans as the theater is still active.
To continue our cultural journey, we headed to the Pre-Colombian Gold Museum to admire gold pieces of art collected for centuries. We found out that although Costa Rica is rich in gold the conservation of the Rainforest is their number one priority. We also viewed a special exhibit featuring large cats like the Cougar. Can you tell what kind of cat this is? We completed the day with dinner at a local San Jose restaurant. Everyone seemed to enjoy their fresh-squeezed fruit drinks (like guava, passion fruit, strawberry) and large platters of traditional Costa Rican cuisine (steak, chicken, seafood, rice). One student even claimed that her seafood soup was the best she has ever had! Muy Bueno!Bryant University Sustainability Marketing 385
Day 4 Espiritu Santo Coffee Tour
To contact us Click HERE
When we asked our tour guide Ed which type of coffee was the best, he immediately fired back the question, “What’s your favorite music?” All of us were puzzled, as the question seemed irrelevant and everyone had a different response. “You see,” he said, “just like music, everyone has different tastes in coffee, it is impossible to say which is best because it depends on what you like.”
Espiritu exports to companies that we’re familiar with such as Pete’s, Royale, and Caribou. The plantation itself consists of 630 acres located in the Alajuela area of Costa Rica. Here are a few key points we gathered during our morning at the plantation:
Harvest time for the coffee plants on the Espiritu plantation is from October to February. About 1-2 months after planting the seeds, germination will occur. After two years, the cherries are ready to pick however the plant is not matured until it is 5 years old. These plants last an average of 25 years in the Alajuela area, although they do become less productive as they age. The coffee plants receive their first pruning (trimming the tree) after 6 years and this process will then reoccur every 3 years. Cherries that are uniform in color usually produce the best quality coffee. After the cherries are picked, they should be stored for no longer than 20 hours or else they will start to ferment and smell like vinegar. Two years aging the dried coffee beans will yield a great quality, similar to aging wine.
Although Espiritu’s coffee is only 95% organic, they do use many sustainable practices. The reason they aren’t 100% organic is due to the fact that they must spray chemicals once a year to combat fungi. In order to receive an organic certification, Espiritu will need 5 years to “cleanse” the land. Currently, Espiritu is in the process of restoring a section of land for these sustainable practices. Espiritu received a certification for sustainable tourism from the Sustainability Programs Department of the Costa Rica Tourism Board and the Costa Rica Nation Accreditation Commission. A few sustainable practices that Espiritu has in place already include:
Learn Some Spanish! (Warning: Don't try this at home!) The Costa Rican saying, “Montese en la Carreta,” which means get on the wagon, actually refers back to when the ox-cart drivers would stop in a little town along their journey and become intoxicated to the point that they couldn’t walk, so they would have to “get on the wagon” so they could continue.
Colin, Justin, Leah, SamanthaBryant University, Sustainability Marketing 385
When we asked our tour guide Ed which type of coffee was the best, he immediately fired back the question, “What’s your favorite music?” All of us were puzzled, as the question seemed irrelevant and everyone had a different response. “You see,” he said, “just like music, everyone has different tastes in coffee, it is impossible to say which is best because it depends on what you like.” Espiritu exports to companies that we’re familiar with such as Pete’s, Royale, and Caribou. The plantation itself consists of 630 acres located in the Alajuela area of Costa Rica. Here are a few key points we gathered during our morning at the plantation:
- There are 2,500 members of the co-op (a group of farmers who work together and own a share in the company based on how much they produce), and 40% of the co-op members are women (girl power!).
- 4 million lbs of cherries are collected in a harvest (annually), and out of these 4 million only 1 million lbs of coffee beans are produced (average of 7 lbs per plant).
- The average picker can fill approximately 15 baskets (25 lbs per basket) in an 8 hour work day (We were thinking we could only fill about 3 – lazy Americans).
- A majority of the pickers are from Nicaragua, and the best of the best can fill up to 50 baskets in a day, earning themselves about $100 in just one day. (The average teacher in Nicaragua earns $150 per MONTH).
Harvest time for the coffee plants on the Espiritu plantation is from October to February. About 1-2 months after planting the seeds, germination will occur. After two years, the cherries are ready to pick however the plant is not matured until it is 5 years old. These plants last an average of 25 years in the Alajuela area, although they do become less productive as they age. The coffee plants receive their first pruning (trimming the tree) after 6 years and this process will then reoccur every 3 years. Cherries that are uniform in color usually produce the best quality coffee. After the cherries are picked, they should be stored for no longer than 20 hours or else they will start to ferment and smell like vinegar. Two years aging the dried coffee beans will yield a great quality, similar to aging wine.Although Espiritu’s coffee is only 95% organic, they do use many sustainable practices. The reason they aren’t 100% organic is due to the fact that they must spray chemicals once a year to combat fungi. In order to receive an organic certification, Espiritu will need 5 years to “cleanse” the land. Currently, Espiritu is in the process of restoring a section of land for these sustainable practices. Espiritu received a certification for sustainable tourism from the Sustainability Programs Department of the Costa Rica Tourism Board and the Costa Rica Nation Accreditation Commission. A few sustainable practices that Espiritu has in place already include:
- The burning of parchment (dry coffee bean skins) is used to power machinery.
- Cherries that are infected can’t be processed; however the pulp surrounding the bean is used as a natural fertilizer.
- Sun drying the beans rather than machine drying them.
- The use of handmade contraptions which trap insects using alcohol.
- The use of the “chorreador” eliminates electric coffee makers and is a way for coffee consumers to also be sustainable.
- “Little Soldiers” are what they call sprouting coffee plants because of their helmet-like exterior and the fact that they have to “fight to survive.”
- Coffee plants are self pollinating – only 6% require outside help from insects, hummingbirds, wind, etc.
- The most expensive coffee in the world, called “Kopi Luwak,” hails from Indonesia. It is made from coffee beans that have been eaten, partly digested and then excreted by the civet, a weasel-like animal. These bags sell for up to $600 per POUND and up to $50 per CUP.
- Just like you can tell how old a person is based on how many wrinkles they have; you can also tell how old a coffee plant is based on the number of times it has been pruned.
- The “broca” beetle (less than 1 mm in size) eats many other fruits however can only lay eggs in the coffee bean; Only 2% of Espiritu’s cherries are infected by these invaders.
- The coffee produced at Espiritu contains only 0.9%-1.7% caffeine, while other types of coffee could potentially contain up to 4% (yikes).
Learn Some Spanish! (Warning: Don't try this at home!) The Costa Rican saying, “Montese en la Carreta,” which means get on the wagon, actually refers back to when the ox-cart drivers would stop in a little town along their journey and become intoxicated to the point that they couldn’t walk, so they would have to “get on the wagon” so they could continue.Colin, Justin, Leah, SamanthaBryant University, Sustainability Marketing 385
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