The History Of Coffee

According to one story, the effect of coffee beans were found by an Ethiopian sheep herder, Kaldi. Kaldi noticed that the sheep became hyperactive after eating the beans. The story later says that Kaldi was scolded by monks for eating the “devil’s fruit.” Monks later depended on the coffee beans to help them stay awake for their prayers.
The coffee plant originally grew in Ethiopia, but later transplanted in Arabia. Transportation of the plant out of the Moslem nations was forbidden by the government. The actual spread of coffee started illegally. An Arab smuggled beans to India, and started a farm.
Coffee was believed by some Christians to be the devil’s drink. Pope Vincent III heard this and decided to taste it before he banished it. He enjoyed it so much he baptized it.

Coffee in Costa Rica

CR has great soil and climate conditions for coffee plantations. Exports to neighboring Panama began in the late 1820s. After a load was sent directly to Britain in 1843, the British began investing heavily in the industry, becoming the principal purchaser of Costa Rican coffee until later World War II. The largest growing areas are San Jose, Alajuela, Heredia, Puntarenas, and Cartago provinces. Costa Rican coffee is high in both quality and caffeine content.
Coffee production depends upon cheap, seasonal labor, most of which has come from Nicaraguan immigrants that cross over due to Costa Rica's low unemployment and higher standard of living . Workers receive only around 60 ¢ to $1.50 per basket picked. Each cajuela weights around 15 lbs. And a good worker can fill as many as 12 per day.
I have noticed that although Costa Rica is known for their coffee, not many ticos enjoy the beverage. In my host family, the husband is the only one in the household who drinks coffee. The wife does not care for it. Many other students have expressed that not many relatives in their households drink it. I guess it is a common misconception that all ticos drink coffee. Not all from the EEUU eat corn.

El Plantacion de Cafe de Daisy

Coffee beans!

Congratulations to Daisy and her employees for winning ‘Best Café in Costa Rica,’ which pretty much means best coffee in the world. When we visited Daisy’s coffee plantation, we compared organic and non-organic coffee fields. One huge difference is that because the organic fields are ‘untouched’ it takes longer to care for them, which in the long run costs more than it’s worth to keep up with them. The organic plants look worse than the non-organic because of its natural way. Daisy tried the organic way for 3 years until she went back to non-organic. Daisy does business with Japan, Europe, and the United States. Her ideal situation is to only sell her coffee in Costa Rica, but the competition is so fierce because there are so many coffee farmers in CR.

We later visited another coffee plantation named Cafe Britt. Cafe Britt's tour was a little more showy and commercially. We really didn't get to actually tour the fields, but I learned a lot more about actually making coffee. They explained how the coffee is made from the time they plant the seed to the time they bag the beans.

The original bean that is taken from the plant is not what is left after the entire process. About 20 % of the bean is left after all the cleaning and roasting. They are required by the government to recycle and or reuse the other 80% of the bean. They use this left over 80% as planting seeds for the next batch of upcoming coffee.

Cafe Britt is extremely popular in Costa Rica, but it is a little pricey for the natives. My host family buys cheaper coffee. But ironically, i have noticed that not that many ticos like coffee.