Today was very busy. We had a coffee plantation tour in the morning and hung out at a street market in downtown San Jose this afternoon. There was a lot to see at the market, but I forgot to get pictures. Fortunately for you I got a lot of them at the coffee plantation. So here we go a look at the Cafe Britt Coffee Plantation!
Map of Costa Rica coffee growing areas. Coffee is usually grown in the central valley because it is cooler and there is more nutrients from the volcanic mineral deposits in the soil. This helps the coffee grow and gives it a flavor that is unique to Costa Rica.
This is the inside of a coffee seed. This is what they roast to make coffee.
After the seeds are planted and watered banana leaves are placed on top to help keep the moisture in so the seeds can grow.
After the seeds sprout they are planted in plastic. They take about a year to grow this way.
As they get bigger they are planted with another seedling.
When they get to this point they are planted in pot and they continue to grow for the rest of the year.
Then when they get bigger they are planted in the field. It still takes another 2 years for the plants to grow enough to make coffee beans, but the same plant can give you one harvest a year for 25 years!
This is a cocoa tree. Cocoa is where chocolate comes from. 
Alyssa trying out Coffee bean picker fashion. The baskets hold several pounds of coffee beans but will only yield 3 pounds of coffee when processing has finished.
These are what good coffee beans look like. It's a little hard to tell but they are greenish in color.
This is what not so good coffee beans look like. They are brown in color. The green coffee beans are used to make gourmet coffee and the brownish ones are used for instant coffee.
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