I recently got to go to visit a coffee producing country for the first time - Costa Rica. First off, it was fantastic but beyond that, I've got a notepad of scribbled notes on things I discovered about coffee production in Costa Rica that I didn't know before, which I thought I'd share in case anyone else is interested!
This is all from the perspective of someone who hasn't seen a farm or mill in person before, so there will be some things people might consider obvious! To keep it easy on time, I'll go for deciphering about one scrawled note per day, and hopefully everyone else can pitch in to correct or add to it as we go!
So for a first fact-let...
The coffee plants in Costa Rica need a good dose of rain before they blossom. Their winter/rainy season starts in May, and about 11 days after the rains start the plants will be in blossom.