DEWEY IN COSTA RICA: DOKA COFFEE TOUR

On our way back from Monteverde we stopped for a nice buffet lunch and a tour of the Doka Coffee Plantation. The tour is set right in the middle of where the coffee is grown and processed, so it all seemed very authentic.
In the end, we did not find the coffee especially wonderful compared to some we have had in coffee shops. There is a small coffee roaster in Santa Elena that I especially liked.
However, the tour itself was great.
The tour guide explained how the beans were grown and showed us the immature plants called "little soldiers" because the green looked like a helmet. They take two of these and put them in a pot. Two grow better than one because they compete with each other. We wondered if our reading on trees supported a theory that they actually would help one another and keep each other company. In our reading we learned that most trees are not content to be planted in an isolated spot as a single tree. Perhaps that is true of coffee plants as well.
The plants are then put in the coffee groves and they begin to produce coffee, starting with a beautiful white flower that has a jasmine like smell and then progressing through three stages, green, orange, and then red. The red is the ripened bean.
The plants can live for 100 years, but are usually only productive for 30 or 40 after which they are cut down and the wood used to dry the poorer coffee or used when air drying is impractical due to rain. 28 lobs of picked beans will yield 6 lbs. of beans.

The harvest starts in October and goes for five months. Migrant workers pick the beans. They arrive with their families.
The pickers are not paid much, but some of the more skilled pickers can make $60 a day if they are fast. They are paid by a measurement called la cajuela. Here they get a free house, free electricity, free child care and are paid here in Costa Rica more than in Nicaragua. Many pickers come from Nicaragua.

http://www.crhoy.com/archivo/773-colones-se-pagaran-por-cajuela-de-cafe/

You can see in the picture that the beans are covered with three layers, a parchment, a slime, and silver cap. First the best beans are selected by putting them in a huge bath of water. The good ones sink to the bottom. The poorer quality rise to the top.

The beans are then run through this machine that sorts them by size and peels them. Next the beans sit in water for 32 hours to ferment.

I missed the exact function of this machine below. Elizabeth says that she thinks the inferior beans are dried here.

The best beans are then dried in the sun as they have been for decades. They are spread out on a long cement area that is sloped so that mild water runs off easily. Workers use wooden rakes (so as not to disturb the cement) to turn the beans over every 45 minutes. We were able to try out the rakes.

I missed getting my picture as a raker.
If it rains too many days in a row, or for some inferior beans, the drying is done with an oven using wood from the old coffee plants. However, unlike sun drying this gives the coffee a little smoky flavor.

The coffee is not roasted here. It lasts longer in a raw form, so it is sent out to other companies that roast. One company in Germany actually does the roasting for free because roasting removes caffeine and they use the caffeine for caffeine drinks like Redbull.

The best beans are exported and the poorer beans are sold to companies here in Costa Rica who make a poorer grade of coffee. Sometimes coffee is mixed with other grains to make is less expensive. The coffee we are drinking here in the house is 1820. Meli says it is a good choice. It is 100% Arabic coffee. Frankly I did not think the Doka tasted any better. The Doka sells for about $18 a pound. I found it on line too for around the same price. However, I think the coffee we get at the Best Weight co-op is just as good, perhaps better.

The best beans are stored in bags in this warehouse.

Some people are putting a sack of coffee up for auction and one sack in China actually sold for $7800, but that is very unusual. It is a bet what the beans will get at auction. Sometimes a bag might just get $50 which is little or no profit.

There is a new bean coming into the market with much less caffeine.
BEAN WITH LESS CAFFEINE

Generally, the lighter coffees have the most caffeine and the dark roast the least. This is counterintuitive but true.

Also there is coffee called white coffee which has the most caffeine but very little coffee taste. It is just barely roasted.

This article says there is no difference in caffeine. Our guide said it was like drinking water.
https://coffeefaq.com/what-is-white-coffee/

ROASTING AND CAFFEINE

The last stage of the tour allowed us to sample all the varieties of coffee. I was most intriqued by the coffee called pea berry. However, in the end, it did not overwhelm us with pleasure and we will save taking it on the plane and get some on line if we get nostalgic for our trip.