Day 4 Espiritu Santo Coffee Tour

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.
  
  

The Funnest of Facts

• “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, Samantha

Bryant University, Sustainability Marketing 385