Discoveries…Costa Rica: Coffee From Seed to Cup

Here are some items for the I-Didn’t-Know-That file. One: while Costa Rica is a major supplier of coffee beans to the world, the Central American country largely imports beans for its own coffee drinkers. Two: the only coffee bean plantation owned by Starbucks is in Costa Rica—600 acres of dense, green lushness. In this java-oriented travelogue from filmmakers Jim and Kelly Watt (whose latest Discoveries series explored U.S. national parks), viewers meet a number of growers—some are part of an expanding movement of independent family micro-mills, in contrast to the corporate farms—who are passionate about what they do, spending very long days outdoors during harvest season. Labor issues are briefly addressed, especially concerning hourly wages, social security, and schooling for kids (much of the country’s harvesting force is made up of seasonal workers from Panama and Nicaragua). The country’s beautiful Tarrazu area is a high-altitude zone that is favorable to growing rich coffee beans. Viewers will see the factory processes for drying the beans and more in preparation for export, involving huge furnaces and big machines, as well as follow a quality-control expert’s complicated protocols for smelling and tasting numerous brews. A darker note in this armchair adventure is the controversial issue of coffee bean pricing—i.e., fees levied on farmers by big buyers, who in turn sell more profitably to the likes of Starbucks. One independent coffee family here made the hard decision to incorporate processing on a small scale at home, negotiating prices directly with higher rungs on the supply chain ladder. A beautifully-filmed and informative documentary that will appeal to coffee lovers, this is highly recommended. Aud: P. (T. Keogh)