Coffee
21
January, The coffee farm was a particular favorite this past week.
Our friend Edwin Salas owns a coffee farm near Atenas, a small city
located an hour NW of San Jose.
Following a Costa Rican lunch of pollo a la plancha (grilled chicken) and corvina (sea bass), we met with the top manager of the coffee cooperative, COOPATENAS. He offered us the history of the cooperative as well as economic and social benefits of the cooperative for the area.
The cooperative presently acts as a low-interest lending instituition for its members (a credit union of sorts), operates a grocery store and gas/service station, sells hardware supplies, and much more--most everything the farmer could want or need. Members can buy everything on credit and then pay after the next harvest.
Following
the lecture, we headed to the beneficio (coffee mill) where the
beans are deposited, hauled, washed, dried, sorted, and packaged for
shipping. Various companies then venture to the cooperative to purchase
150 lb burlap bags of coffee to roast. We also saw their eco-friendly
waste management system (and stopped to pick oranges growing on trees
amongst the coffe plants).
Edwin is currently involved in a company that sells enzymes which restore the water-waste to usable conditions. After returning to the beneficio to sample brewed coffee, students were surprised to receive a gift of class A (premium) COOPATENAS coffee.
