It is the end of day 2 and the 12 of us have got our hands dirty picking and absorbing coffee cherries, and our minds filled with learnings on C.A.F.E. practices, Fairtrade, and Earthwatch.
The coffee farmers have a competency for growing coffee like we have for growing people. Yesterday we spent time at well known coffee farm Bella Vista F.W. , today at Coopetarrazu, and Cooperative de Dota which is also Rain Forest Certified. More tomorrow....the 12 Canadians!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Day Two...Origins Experience Costa Rica
....of course, Day Two started with a coffee tasting, a tasting that paid "Tribute" to our Partners and customers celebrating 40 years of Starbucks. Yes we had our first taste of the new Starbucks Tribute Blend! That was followed by a detailed presentation from the Earthwatch Institute learning how Earthwatch & Starbucks partner with farmers in Costa Rica to develop tools and practices that facilitate sustainable coffee cultivation. The bus ride day one was a vacation compared to today! Learning #2, it takes a long 3.5 hour bus ride into the mountains and up 6000 feet in elevation to find the best coffee in the world and it's worth it! A small price to pay to get to the Tarrazu region and and spend the morning on a 3 hectare family farm. We dialed up our coffee education completing coffee tree analysis, taking soil samples, studying the ground, shade trees etc... Lunch was hosted by CoopeTarrazu, one of the regions coffee cooperatives. After lunch we visited the Coope Dota coffee mill (Video attached) learning even more about the washed processing method. The bus ride back included a detailed discussion of C.A.F.E. practices and Fair Trade with the best coffee argronomists in the world from our Farmer Support Center and SCTC. Tomorrow.... Coffee Tree planting and even more Coffee Agronomy education at Finca Las Marias!
More from day 1...
Day 1 was a jammed packed day. We started the day with group introductions and Dub sharing information about CAFE practices, Starbucks Coffee Trading Company, Green Coffee Quality and so much more. We then traveled to a nursery where we saw seedlings that were just 6 months old and ready for planting in the next two months. We then moved on to the infamous Bella Vista Estate where we could not wait to get off the bus to pick some coffee cherries. We also learned about caring for coffee trees. Then we hiked over steep hills at high elevation to witness the farmers bringing in their pick for the day. We wrapped up the day at the mill where we saw the freshly picked coffee being processed.
Our ride home on the bus was very quiet while we reflected on the days events. Time to rest up for another adventure tomorrow. Stay tuned for more details.
Heather, Sheilagh, Jennifer, Jane
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Day One - Parallels
Parallels - First 10 feet, Last 10 feet, operators in the store, operators on a farm.
Partners in Canada, Partners in United States and Costa Rica. Passion, expertise, quality and care go into everything we do because we have pride in who we are, who we work for and what we do, every day
Partners in Canada, Partners in United States and Costa Rica. Passion, expertise, quality and care go into everything we do because we have pride in who we are, who we work for and what we do, every day
Day One in Costa Rica - Jan 11, 2011
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Hello Team Canada from Costa Rica! Well day One is almost over and my cup is full! What an amazing Origins Experience it has been so far! We started with 2 hours of orientation from Dub Hay, partners from the Farmer Support Center and Starbucks Coffee Buying group. A ton of coffee knowledge from the best coffee people in the world! Talked a lot about CAFÉ practices, Fair Trade, etc…. We visited the La Ceiba nursery first, appropriately, since this is where all coffee really begins life. From there we travelled to Bella Vista Tres Rios coffee estate, as you know Starbucks purchases lots of coffee from there. We had our first 3 agronomy classes in the field with the very knowledgeable partners from the Farmer Support Center, Carlos and Orlando. This included picking coffee! (yes I ate a few coffee cherries! Very sweet & tasty, also dropped way too many cherries on the ground, will deal with that at confessional!) I could not stop taking pictures of coffee trees overflowing with ripe cherries! We finished our day at Bella Vista surrounded by all of the coffee pickers and their families bringing in the coffee they picked that day, filling the trucks and getting paid. It was an amazing and humbling human coffee connection. I have 100’s of pictures and stories just from today to share with anyone who will listen when I return!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Coffee Tree Life Cycle
Here are some pictures showing the different life cycles of a coffee tree. Coffee trees are fruit trees, and a relative of the gardenia. Coffee seeds are usually germinated and planted in a greenhouse at a nursery where the delicate plants are taken care of for the first 8 months of their lives. The third picture shows rows and rows of young coffee tree seedlings at the Santa Eduivegas nursery (part of the Doka Estate). The second picture is of Orlando Alfaro, one of our aronomists in Costa Rica, taking the group through the life cycle of a coffee tree. Once the seedlings are about 8 months old, and a bit stronger, they are taken to the coffee farm where they will be planted (see picture number 1), and spend the remainder of the life cycle. After planting, it will take approximately 3 years before the coffee tree will flower for the first time, and the tree will produce its first coffee harvest after 4-5 years of hard work on the farmers part, investing care and time into the plant to guide it towards its first crop. When the coffee tree flowers, the flowers fall away and the green cherries appear, and then it takes an additional 9 months for the green cherries to turn deep red, the sign that the coffee cherries are ready to be picked. Most coffee trees will be at their peak of production during years seven through fifteen, and at this time are generally pruned back to assist the tree and help stimulate new growth. After about 20 - 25 years, most of the coffee trees are "exhausted", and no longer produce sufficient crops, and at this time, coffee farmers will replace about 5% of their farm with seedlings and repeat the whole process again.
Next week, our featured bold coffee will be Cafe Estima - our blend of Fair Trade Certified Latin American and African Beans. Taste this coffee from a french press today, and think about the long process and the hard work of hundreds of people who brought this coffee to you.
Enjoy, Cindy GH
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