On Monday, we ventured out to the Britt Coffee Farm to learn the history and business of coffee in Costa Rica. As in the case of the butterfly farm I wasn’t too sure of what we would learn but I was eager to find out. There were two presenters that were absolutely hilarious, as they interactively took turns explaining the history of coffee in both Spanish and English. Coffee originated in Ethiopia and then traveled to Saudi Arabia, Italy, France, Brazil and finally arrived in Costa Rica in 1750. However, it wasn’t until 1821 that the coffee industry really exploded as the Costa Rican government gave free land and free coffee plants to anyone to wanted to grow coffee for exportation! As a result, coffee became Costa Rica’s main export. By the end of the 19th century coffee exportation helped build the railroad system and in the early 20th century it provided the means to develop roads and other key parts of the country’s infrastructure. Today, coffee remains one of Costa Rica’s key exports and coffee plants can be seen almost in every direction. The Britt Company main role in this trade is mainly a roaster as they receive coffee beans from over 2000 suppliers. It is important to note that the suppliers do not use any chemicals as it would pollute the soil and helps Costa Rica remain a leader in sustainability.
In the afternoon, we toured the Sr. y Sra. Ese Souvenir Company. This company specializes in hand-crafted jewelry and souvenirs from the wood from the tree to the finished product. In particular, the company uses wood from 16 different trees and each one has a unique beautiful characteristic. My favorite was the “purple heart” wood. I did not know that purple wood existed in its natural color. During our visit in Costa Rica it was common to see this company’s products in many of the gift shops that we visited. It was very interesting to see the quality of their work at all stages of production. It was a perfect example of Costa Rica’s dedication to tourism, which accounts for 52% of their GDP.