Final Coffee Post (A Reflection)

I came to CR with very little knowledge of anything to do with coffee. I knew as much as to how my parents brewed and enjoyed their coffee. I personally did not enjoy coffee for anything other than its aroma. But, after spending time examining and researching the coffee industry in CR and around the world, I quickly realized the complexity growing coffee entails on all levels, including a business processes level, social, environmental, and sustainability levels.

Now, when I think of coffee, so much more comes to my mind. I was able to experience every level of coffee production and formed my own ideas on how coffee can become sustainable. Though coffee may be successful in CR, the negative effects of making it successful may be too much. I wonder if coffee production might be better suited, from a sustainablility standpoint, by being produced in other parts of the world.

After seeing the coffee industry in CR first hand, I have come away better educated and prepared to talk about sustainability in a way that can relate to almost any business. The first week's visits to two totally different coffee plantations/businesses really opened my eyes to the sustainability issues the coffee industry faces but moreso, to how these same issues can be applied to other industries around the world.

Since an industry that seems as simple as coffee struggles with so many issues concerning sustainability, it sparked my initial interest into discovering how other industries and companies, with even more complexity, can begin to move towards sustainable practices. Throughout lecture and research for projects, I was able to relate sustainability back to the basic problems the Costa Rican coffee industry faces.

The influence the coffee industry has on Costa Rica's economy will always be a lasting impression in my mind. It will be interesting to follow the country and its progress towards helping the coffee industry become sustainable as I grow into a business man myself. One day it may be possible that CR will be considered a leader of sustainable developement and considered a model nation for forming sustainable industries.