Caffeine Central: Week Six - Made it to Costa Rica

I was feeling a bit glum to be leaving Nicaragua, but after being picked up from the airport and driven into San Jose, we passed a very large shopping mall, and I felt a little happier. I am living in more of an studio apartment here, but it's nice, modern and has more of an outdoor area. It is in a gated community, and very safe. Being a 10 minute walk to work, it's a great location.

The area we are based is Tres Rios, a coffee growing region of San Jose, as the city sits at 1200m altitude. The office is built on an ex-coffee plantation, and having only been built two years ago, it is obvious to see the changes in the area. I am told that as the city expands, farmers are now looking at selling their land for malls, offices and houses. This is because they are able to earn more money from the sale of land to developers than they would selling coffee. Very sad, but a reality, especially because Tres Rios coffee is highly regarded and sort after. From the office window you are able to see the coffee mill just down the road, and patches of coffee trees around the block.

I spent my first weekend relaxing, walking around the area, and at a family day of one of my colleagues. It was very cool seeing family life, eating delicious Costa Rican food and hearing about daily life here. Their family is huge, and this was just a bunch of the cousins on one side, which equalled to around 30 people.

On Monday and Tuesday I was in the office learning the history and process of coffee here. Wednesday to Friday was then spent visiting a numerous number of coffee farms, micro mills and mills. They were all very interesting, had their own way of handling coffee and own background stories.