Costa Rican Coffee and Race Issues

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How did I not know that know that coffee is the seed of a berry? And is there a hard, bitter seed at the center of the fruit that is Costa Rica?

I learned a heck of a lot on the tour of the coffee plantation we went on after we left the national park.

I have become a heavy coffee drinker over the years - starting with debate in college and peaking in my many years working in the Texas Legislature.

But there is so much I did not know about coffee or how it is grown and prepared before I went on this tour. It is a complicated and time-consuming process.

I really had no idea that the beans start out in berry that is edible. That fruit is squeezed away; the sugary film is washed from the bean; the bean dries for a couple weeks; a husk around the bean is removed; and then the bean is roasted.

Nothing is wasted: The fruit is composted by worms then sold to nearby farms and hotels; the husks of the individual beans are burned as fuel to operate the machinery of the plantation; peppers grown around the beans to keep insects away are sold, as is the fruit from the trees that provide a diversity in plant growth that also prevents infestation.

Our tour guide was an attractive, passionate, and entertaining Costa Rican woman whose grandfather had started the plantation. She is an agricultural engineer and runs the place. Throughout the tour I really grew to like her so I was very surprised by something she said at the end of the tour.

I was reminded of what she said at dinner Tuesday night when a large part of our group had dinner at a restaurant on the beach to celebrate our last night in Costa Rica. My friend sitting to my right and I were talking when a waiter began to place a dessert in front of him. We both looked up at the waiter, the waiter looked down at my friend and just as the plate was about to land on the table, the waiter lifted it and took it across the table to another guy. My friend and I looked at one another and burst out laughing. I was served a dessert and then my friend was finally served last at the table.

My friend, who is black, said, “I can’t tell you the number of times that has happened since we’ve been here (in Costa Rica)…” It was obvious that the waiter was treating him differently and favoring everyone else at the table.

As my group finished our tour of the coffee plantation earlier that same day; the tour guide I had liked so much was asked by one of the members of our group, “Are there many monkeys around the plantation; I haven’t seen any during the trip?”

Tour Guide, with her cute accent: “Oh, yes, there are many monkeys, but you won’t see them at this time of day.”

Tourist: “Why?

Tour Guide: “Oh, because the monkeys, excuse me, but the monkeys are a lot like the black people. They are really lazy in the heat of the day and you won’t see them anywhere but in the shade napping…”

Thus ended my crush on the Costa Rican coffee engineer.

Maybe that day was an aberration or anomaly in Costa Rican race relations, but both situations really took me by surprise. And maybe they shouldn’t have taken me by surprise.

But in the midst of such a paradise; in the presence of a captivating educator - I just did not expect to find such poisonous seeds…

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Photos

Costa Rican Coffee Engineer
But I'm sure she has a lot of friends who are monkeys...

Furnace
This furnace burns wood and bean husks to operate the plantation machinery.

Drying Machine
Beans are further dried in this machine after sitting in the sun for a couple weeks

Native Dancers
These dancers are among the groups of people who inhabited Costa Rica prior to Spanish control.

Dancers
They danced for us at the end of the coffee tour.

Comments

[Kat]

hmm
I had heard of race conflicts in Costa Rica. It seems so odd in this day and age.

[Doug Blamminski]

Running Race
As to the race issue you experienced. Costa Rica is not the Urban M-pyre. Go to Limon or Puerto Viejo and you'll understand why Maria Malia made that comment. ............or for that matter head to Mississippi. Glad you enjoyed the place. I've been chere 21 years and am NEVER going back.