International coffee farmers and buyers exchange knowledge with members of the Costa Rican coffee sector, such as the coffee mill Coopedota and the National Coffee Institute ICAFE.
In an effort to exchange knowledge and learn about the Costa Rican coffee sector, representatives from all over the world visited coffee mills and farms as well as the country’s National Coffee Institute (ICAFE) during the eighth edition of the Extraordinary Coffee Workshop (EWC) organized by Intelligentsia Coffee.
“The goal is to study quality, production and learn different ways of cultivation, in short, all the innovations, perspectives and good ideas that Costa Rica can offer us from its coffee culture”, explains Geoff Watts from the US-American coffee roaster and buyer Intelligentsia Coffee and organizer of the ECW. The annual workshop aims to build a platform for knowledge sharing by uniting coffee growers from around the world who have made a serious commitment to quality.
From November 29th to December 2nd participants from all over the world visited key players of the Costa Rican coffee sector. At the national coffee research institute ICAFE they saw its current work with somatic embryogenesis and centrifugal demuciligination. Additionally, participants visited the institute’s varietal garden and biodigestor, which produces energy from coffee pulp. Other stops on the agenda were the coffee cooperative Coopedota, which anchors a Direct Trade program with Intelligentsia Coffee in Costa Rica, and three of its coffee farms. Participants were presented with different farm management practices Coopedota promotes, such as renovation approaches, coffee leaf rust mitigation plans, varietal experiments and composting practices.
The ICAFE currently implements the Costa Rican Coffee NAMA in cooperation with the country’s Ministries for Environment (MINAE) and Agriculture (MAG). The NAMA Café is the first agricultural nationally appropriate mitigation action in the world and aims to produce and process coffee in Costa Rica in a low-emission, sustainable fashion. The NAMA is supported by the NAMA Support Project “Low-Carbon Coffee Costa Rica”, implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The project is financed by the NAMA Facility.
© ICAFE