GST Bloggers: Week 7: Coffee Continued!

First asking my brother about coffee, he asked me, “Isn’t it the golden bean or something?” Well, I don’t exactly know if this is a common description or not, but my Tico brother was definitely aware of coffee’s importance in Costa Rica. My family hit all of the major points, that coffee provided their country with jobs, money, and pride. Although my Tico dad has a different job now, he used to work at a coffee plantation in the factory section. When my family told me this, I realized just how big of a deal coffee is in Costa Rica and how coffee is still a major area of production here. In years past coffee is how Costa Rica "stayed in the game" or remained active in trade and relations with other countries. This my family knew and it seemed common knowledge amongst all of them that coffee was and still is an essential part of their culture.

Within Sabanilla so far I have noticed three common places where coffee is drunk: Caffe Biscotti, Amanda’s Café, and Kaldi. However, it seems like all three were created with the purpose of selling more than just coffee. Amanda’s café is a place to eat breakfast or lunch, but a wide variety of coffee drinks can be chosen from. Kaldi serves as a coffee house, a restaurant for lunch and dinner, and a bakery. And Caffe Biscotti offers the same types of food as Kaldi but with a smaller variety. This makes it very apparent to me that coffee is definitely not the main focus. These restaurants might not be able to survive solely on selling coffee. While coffee is a very important aspect of the Tican culture, most of it is consumed at home. The restaurants that provide coffee may have been created to give it a “coffee house feel,” creating an environment to socialize and interact with other community members, but also to eat meals and pick up a baguette on the way home from work. I think I still need to keep my eyes open to the attitudes and different ways all restaurants in Costa Rica present coffee. Where is it on their menu? Do they provide many ways to prepare coffee?

While plain, basic coffee is offered at all of these restaurants, they all had different ways to “doctor up” coffee as well. It is an interesting topic because Leslie and I noticed that at Amanda’s caffe, the restaurant had a wide variety of coffee drinks including coffee with liquor flavoring but without the alcohol. This was a new discovery for us because this variety isn’t even very common in the States. Perhaps these drinks were offered to draw in a crowd of higher class. I think social class and coffee could also be something to observe and explore more.