Costa Rica: A Return to Origins

This blog will capture the experiences and learnings of our TWELVE Canadian participants.
Check back daily for updates and new postings.


Introducing a new Origin Experience program

Last February, the first group of Starbucks partners traveled to Costa Rica to take part in the pilot Origin trip. Less than a year later, another twelve Canadian partners have been awarded the same opportunity to visit, learn, harvest and truly experience life at our farms in Costa Rica. Follow along and learn from their daily adventures. Through this powerful first-hand experience, partners will be better able to understand and articulate ethical sourcing practices, quality standards and relationship with farmers. It will also help us create a network of passionate advocates to inspire customers and other partners, as well as serve as coffee leaders.


Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Not a great picture, but a great story



You just know that we are having a positive impact in origin when the principal and three students open up their school in the middle of summer vacation so that they could greet us, show off the improvements to their school, and thank us directly for being such a great company and contributing to the well being of their school and town. The principal spoke with such passion for her school and her students, and was so grateful for the new lunch room that recent funding provided for the school. She mentioned that when the price of coffee is good, the school does well as they rely soley on the Terrazu Cooperative and the money they make from selling us our coffee for their programming. It was so touching to have her apologize (more than once) that the school was closed, and that she could not show off all of the wonderful things going on at her school. She made sure to invite us back during the school year so she could have us see the quality of education her students are receiving. I think I just may have to take her up on that!

Cindy GH


Ed Barker and Mark Chandler from the Earthwatch Institute sharing their work with us at Ernesto Chacon's farm in Terrazu. Our partnership started in 2007 and has had a significant impact on the sustainability of coffee farming. Earthwatch's purpose is to bring people and science together to motivate people to something to positively impact the world. Terrazu is one of the most highly productive coffee areas of the world, and it is a great testament to our partnership with Earthwatch that this has been achieved while limiting the negative impact on the earth by promoting environmentally friendly methods of coffee farming. We are fortunate to work with such a great organization, and the farmers who have opened up their farms to test how to increase coffee yields using natural and sustainable methods. "Green" coffee took on a whole new meaning with this visit!

Cindy GH

One of my gold medal moments in Costa Rica



A picture of Ernesto Chacon, a small farmer with 3 hectares as part of the coope Terrazu who works with the Earthwatch Institute on his farm. Ernesto and his family were so welcoming the day we visited his farm, and very proud to show us "the best coffee in Costa Rica (his words). What really struck me was how thankful they were to meet us, so that they could show us their gratitude for what we have done for them, the opportunities for their family, and the postive impact that we have had on their community. At one point his wife patted Ernesto and his son on their tummies and exclaimed "look at how well-fed my family is, we have a good life", and it struck me that we are making a world of difference to people in origin. Even if you do not sell a lot of whole bean coffee, know that every latte you perfectly prepare and hand off is helping people on another continent have a better standard of living, and all they ask us to do is "sell more coffee"!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Working Hard on the Farm






Here are some pictures of Ward, Marie and myself working at Doka estates during our last day of our trip!

Speaking of Team Canada



The Canadians on our last day in Costa Rica at Doka Estate...

Preparing for the experience of a lifetime....



Well, we are back in the day-to-day life of the stores. We will continue to post on the blog once per week with more pictures and stories from our trip to Costa Rica, so please make sure to continue to check back and add your comments.

Today, Canada gets ready for the Opening of the Olympics, where we celebrate the best in the world in a variety of different pursuits, so I thought that I would share some pictures of the best COFFEE in the world as well as a few anecodotes from our time in Costa Rica. The pictures with this post are of one of the branches of the coffee tree that I got to pick while I was there...my shoulders are still a bit sore from all of the work on the farm that day! As well, the other picture is from the nursery where the seedlings are nurtured for eight months until they are ready to plant on the coffee farm where they will live the rest of their lives. As with the Olympics, the final result is the end product of years of preparation! The quality of the coffee and taste that ends up in the cup is very reliant on all of the practices on the farm...once the cherry is picked, we can only maintain (or take away from) the quality of coffee that we brew. Hundreds of hands and hearts touch this coffee before we drink it, similar to the thousands of hands behind the Olympics!! More to come.....PS - GO CANADA!

Cindy GH

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Closing Dinner - A few thoughts

Quick notes as we close out our trip.....

"We are not in the coffee business serving people, we are in the people business serving coffee" - this business is all about the people and the connections we have with each other, and how we inspire and nuture the human spirit. There is a great deal of power in a group of engaged, passionate people - we can all make a difference: one cup, one partner and one customer at a time. We look forward to sharing all of the stories and experiences with you on our return.

To all of the partners following - thank you for all that you do, to our customers - thank you for your patronage.

Please continue to check in on the blog as we will continue to upload pictures, stories, and even some videos in the days and weeks to come.

Adios, Cindy GH

Day Three in Costa Rica

Today we visited the coffee farm of Rodrigo Vargas (Doka Estate) - the largest coffee farmer in all of Costa Rica and one of the most technically advanced farmers in the world. He has worked a great deal with the Agronomy center here in Costa Rica to provide land for experimentation and study to continue to find ways to help the farmers increase their yields in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. Carlos Mario and Orlando, two of the agronomists from the Farmer Support Center, took us again through the entire life cycle of the coffee tree throughout the day.

The Doka coffee estate not only grows and processes their own coffee, they are well known for opening up their operations to tourists to educate people visiting Costa Rica on the coffee industry. Most tourists who visit Costa Rica and request a coffee estate tour are taken to Doka Estate, as it has the oldest wet mill in the entire country and is only a short distance from San Jose. Cindy, the guide who walked us through the processing mill let us know that when the tourists come from the cruise ships and tours of Costa Rica, they always speak very highly of Starbucks, and ask many questions about our relationship with the estate! She even let us know that one day she would love to work for us, at which point many in the group rumaged through their bag for a business card!

We visited the nursery where the coffee plants are germinated (1 - 1 1/2 month process) and then raised as seedlings (another 8 months) before being transported to the actual coffee farms. As most trees only produce coffee cherries for about 20 years, every year farmers replant 5% of their farm with seedlings that they need to care for for 3-4 years before they will produce their first, small crop. In this manner the farmer can maintain his crop yield (and income) at a relatively even level, while ensuring that every 20 years he has replanted his entire farm. We were given the opportunity to plant seedlings on the estate today, and I am looking forward to returning in a few years to see how the seedlings Marie and I planted are doing!

We were also given saws (the machetes were a bit too dangerous for a group of our size) and went through another lesson on how to prune coffee trees. After coffee trees have been producing cherries for about 8 - 10 years, their production begins to slow down. At his point, the trees are pruned back (at about the 120 cm mark) to encourage new shoots to grow to increase the productivity of the plant again and extend the life cycle to the 20 - 25 years mentioned previously. Marie and I pruned about 6 trees in our 20 minute activity and then learned that the average pruner will usually prune 500 plants in a six hour day!

As well, the Canadians all took a turn working the coffee drying patio, where the green coffee beans are turned every 15 minutes for 5 days to ensure that they dry evenly before being bagged for "reposa" (resting period).

My take away from today was that the quality of the coffee we drink all happens on the farm. Everything that occurs after that can either maintain or take away from the quality of the cup - but there is no process that can restore the quality if care and passion are not put into the plant from the minute it germinates. It is the responsibility of all the hands who touch the coffee cherries to maintain that quality - the picker hand selecting cherries of the perfect ripeness, plant management and pruning, proper processing, resting and packaging, transporting to our roasting plants and being delivered to our stores. Hundreds of hands take unbelieveable care in protecting the quality of our coffee through each step, and we have a responsibility to ensure that during the "last 10 feet" at our stores, we do everything possible to honour all of the work that has gone into getting the coffee to us, and as partners, we need to hold ourselves accountable to ensuring that every cup of brewed coffee, every hand crafted espresso beverage is perfect for our customers. Honour the standards and enjoy the coffee.

Adios,

Cindy GH

Reflections on Day Two

We are just about to board the bus to visit the estate of Doka, where we will be planting new seedlings as one of our activities for today.

Yesterday we spent time that was entirely different from visiting the estate of Bella Vista on Tuesday. We visited two cooperatives two hours (on a long and very steep, winding road) away from San Jose. The first farm was owned by a family who have been working in coffee for three generations and are one of the host farms for the work we are doing with the Earthwatch Institute. They were so proud to have visitors and show us the work they do on their 2 hectare farm. They are part of the cooperative of Terrazu, which is a collection of 2500 farms in the area.

Before lunch, we visited a local high school, where even though it is summer vacation in Costa Rica, the principal and three of her students met with us so that they could share the benefits their school receives from the cooperative through their partnership with Starbucks. Many in the room were emotional (including me, surprise) when hearing the gratitude in her voice and to see how proud the students were of their school, and they let us know that without coffee, the school (and the town) would have nothing.

We had lunch at the co-op mill in Terrazu and watched a presentation from Earthwatch before getting back on the bus to head to Coope Dota, another cooperative in the central valley serving 850 farmers and their families. Again, the manager expressed that 90% of the town's economy was dependant on coffee, and their relationship with Starbucks has dramatically changed the standard of living for not only the farmers and their families, but the entire town. He also shared with us all of the "green" practices his mill is experimenting with, and they have the amazing goal of becoming the first carbon neutral processing mill in the world! When we asked what we could do, he simply said "we need to work harder and manage our costs to protect the industry".

Today, prepare a french press and share it with the customers in the cafe, the partner standing beside you, your family at home, or the person who works next to you at the office. Instead of the usual connection you have over the press, connect about the press. I challenge your to find out someting new about the actual coffee and its origin, and to really slow it down to go through the four tasting steps. The coffee deserves nothing less.

Adios, Cindy GH

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Sorry...movie didn't work but will figure it out

Day One at Bella Vista - Amazing!

What an amazing day one. I hope that you have all had the chance to follow Ward's tweets from throughout our day. We had the opportunity today to experience some of the workings of the Bella Vista farm and mill as well as participate first hand in some of the activities - including a "coffee picking competetion" to see how efficient we could pick perfect ripe red cherries without picking green cherries and without damaging the new buds that are the beginning of next year's harvest. In the time it took an experienced picker to fill his basket, many of us picked only 1/20th of a basket!

One of the highlights of today (and there were many), was listening to Orlando Mora, one of the highest regarded argronomists in the field, discuss the relationship between the farmer and his coffee trees. He spoke about how the farmer needed to know "her" (the tree), so that his management practices could complement the perfect combination of soil, climate, altitude, planting and pruning practices. He spoke passionately about ensuring that the farmer works in concert with nature to encourage the coffee tree to produce a perfect crop. He consistently spoke of the coffee tree as a vital, living organism that the farmer works his whole life to know, so that he can read her symptoms and understand her needs to enhance production. He spoke of planting other trees with coffee to provide much needed shade and nitogen to the soil to nourish the root system that regulates the health of the tree. He talked about the mother tree and her "children" - the seedlings that would be produced with strong genetic material to grow and thrive without chemical or unnatural interference. I hope that I can display even one percent of the passion he shared with us when I can tell you all the stories in person.

We are getting ready to head out for dinner. There is so much more knowledge to share from just our first day, and in future posts we will do our best to pass on what we have learned about the coffee farms, plant management, the plant life cycle, harvesting and processing our coffee, as well as our dedication to CAFE practices and ethically sourcing the absolute best coffee in the world.

The one take away for you this evening, is to know that the relationships and partnerships we have built here in Costa Rica (and I am sure all across origin) are with the best people who are enthusiastically dedicated to providing the absolute finest quality while ensuring we have a positive social, economic, and environmental impact in the areas from which we purchase our coffee...what we accomplish is unrivaled, and our competitors do not even come close to achieving what we are at origin. Everyone we met expressed their gratitude working with Starbucks, and we need to be grateful for all of the hard work they are putting into our coffee.

I am in process of learning how to get my pictures on to the laptop with an adapter here at the Communications Centre at our hotel, so pictures will be on their way!

Adios, Cindy Gange-Harris

Here is how you pick coffee

Check out this unbelievable video of the best coffee picker ever. We could probably pick one twentieth of that amount.

Team Canada Photo


Lots more stuff to come today but this is team Canada at Bella Vista Beneficio.

Check out the view at breakfast. We could get used to this. We are off to a coffee tasting and education session before we board the bus to Tres Rios, Bella Vista. Our Bella Vista coffee was served last night at dinner and it is just as delicious as I remembered. Marie

Monday, February 1, 2010

On the ground


We've landed and arrived at hacienda marriott in san jose. The resort is just as breathtaking as expected. Immediately upon arrival we went searching for coffee trees since the resort is on a 30 acre estate. Didn't take long for us to stumble accross these trees in bloom. Just took this picture with my camera. Seeing these blooms up close is even more amazing than expected. The coffee trees are protected by huge apricot and lime trees through out. And this is just the hotel! Tomorrow we are going up into the mountains to visit Tres Rios Bella Vista estate farm. The coffee is ready for harvest and we will experience a day in the life. Till tomorrow, Marie