Black as Night

To end my blogging on coffee, I feel like I would provide some general information on the coffee industry globally and in the United States, as well as my experiences with it personally here in Costa Rica.

Coffee was initially discovered by monks in Ethiopia around 800AD, which from there has expanded into one of the largest drinks in the world (focused in both North America and Europe).  There are several types of beans in the world, but the majority that are grown are called arabica, which primarily grown in Latin America.  Coffee started its growth in shaded areas but farmers soon moved to more of a sun grown method because it produces faster growth of the coffee fruit and the plants could be planted in rows, allowing for a greater yield.

What we have learned from our trips to coffee plantations, is that this method is the most commonly used system of growth, but it is also the most damaging environmentally.  This method requires the cutting down of forests and removal of diversity.  If a shaded method were to be maintained, more diversity and sustainability could be achieved.  The problem is this takes longer and is not as profitable.  Because sun growing is the norm now, it needs numerous pesticides to grow because coffee in many sunny environments cannot grow normally.

There is a group in the United States, American Birding Association, which pushes for a more original type of growing (shaded) to encourage a more organic and sustainable method of growing to be adopted.  This is a novel idea, but what was said at Del Cafe Tal, unless a company is large enough to implement these methods, it does not lead to a profitable business model of the global markets.  Cafe Britt which caries at least an organic shaded coffee is only a small aspect of their sales globally, which its normal sun grown coffee is the primary