Hola coffee lovers!

Today we went to Doka Estate Coffee Plantation. Our friend Juan Jose gave us a wonderful tour of the area. The plantation has been around since 1929 and is about 1400 acres. Doka estate is the biggest private coffee plantation in Costa Rica. They only produce high quality coffee, unfortunately though, it is not completely organic. Doka only exports their coffee beans, their main customers are the United States, Asia, Europe, and Costa Rica. 70% of their exports go to the USA and 60% of that is bought from Starbucks.

The first stage of growing the coffee beans is the nursery. Here they are planted and begin to germinate. Once they are four months old, they are put into plastic bags and planted. Since the region of Costa Rica is very small they will plant two together to save space.

Once the plant is grown, the "pickers" pick the red cherries (red coffee bean) from the plant which can contain up to three beans. The pickers use a kahweila, which is a basket to hold the beans along with back support. These workers make about $2 per basket and he picking season is from October to February.

We then went to the wet mill which is the oldest wet mill in Costa Rica at about 100 years old and only uses hydropower. Inside the mill there are five stages that the bean goes through. During the first stage the beans are dumped into a very large bucket of water. Here, they sink or float, the beans that sink are used to make their high quality coffee. The ones that float are used to sell for their local coffee. The second stage takes off the red skin of the bean and then depending on the size, go on to first, second, or third quality. During stage three they go through a fermentation process. The beans are put into the fermentation tank for around thirty to forty hours. Then the are put outside on the drying concrete to dry for about five days. At Stage four, the beans are put into a drying machine which is about 60 degrees celsius. Stage five, the beans are packed in bags and stored for 3-6 months before being exported. These coffee beans are like wine, they get better as they age.

The green bean, which is the only part exported, is protected by a yellowish skin called parchment. If only one green bean is found they do not export it because it is used to make their premium high quality coffee called Peaberry.

Each coffee bag is about 120 pounds and is sold at $2 per pound and to make one cup coffee it will take about 25-30 beans.

We then went to the roasting room which holds two roasting machines from Germany that are about 50 years old and are 120 degrees Celsius inside.

We learned that the best way to keep coffee fresh is to put it in the freezer!!

We had a great and interesting day and we are all soaking up the sun at the pool before we go off to our farewell dinner!!

We leave early in the morning to head to the airport and will try our best to bring back the sunshine!!

See you all soon!

Jessie Stone and George Spanos Class of 2014