Costa Rican Eco-Coffee-Dota Coffee The world's first carbon-neutral coffee

Professional coffee knowledge exchange more coffee bean information please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style)

Although the development of global carbon-neutral agricultural products is slow, it has gradually taken shape. The most successful example is Costa Rica in Central America, where the Duota Coffee Cooperative became the first coffee producer in the world to obtain carbon-neutral certification.

■ Costa Rica coffee farmers brew up a carbon neutral future.

Fernando Solis Arguedas climbed to the steep roof of his house and looked closely at a leaf of the 50-year-old Arabica coffee tree. His family has a lot of coffee beans because it is the first carbon-neutral coffee in the world to be officially certified.

Solis sees signs of leaf rust in the early days, but he thinks it's because the climate is more unpredictable, and through sustainable agricultural techniques such as reducing chemical spraying and planting more shade trees, coffee produced by their Duota Coffee Cooperative (Coopedota) can be sold at a higher price than others.

Carbon neutralization and reduction of agricultural greenhouse gases

Although there has been an organic whirlwind around the world in recent years, carbon neutralization technology is the mainstream in Costa Rica, a Central American country with a population of 5 million that hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture while meeting the demand for agricultural products with a growing population.

"this is not only a trend, but also means that we can sell our coffee to the international market, and if the market is $120, we may sell it for $180 or $200," says Solis, whose family has grown coffee for three generations. "although the cost is high, we think it is more beneficial to us."

Costa Rica already has three zero-emission coffee companies, as well as some carbon-neutral bananas, pineapples and cattle producers, making the country a pioneer of global carbon-neutral development.

Coffee is not the only drink for carbon-neutral products. Companies in Sri Lanka, India and Chinese mainland also produce zero-emission tea.

Coffee production has played an important role in the history of Costa Rica and is now famous for its high-quality Arabica coffee varieties. Although it currently accounts for only about 1% of the world's total coffee production, Colombia is still the 14th largest coffee producer in the world.

Costa Rica is also known for being environmentally friendly. As early as 2007, Costa Rica set an ambitious goal of achieving a carbon-neutral country by 2021, which means solving 37% of agricultural carbon emissions. Coffee accounts for nearly 10% of the country's total emissions.

Reducing environmental impact can also reduce costs

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, global agriculture, forestry and other land use account for about 24% of greenhouse gas emissions.

People in the coffee industry say Costa Rica's approach is to persuade coffee farmers to switch to fertilizers or mills to reduce energy and water consumption, or to turn coffee fruits into biogas, which can reduce costs in addition to reducing environmental impacts.

Many coffee farmers in the country have responded to future climate change in advance, and the Colombian government only recently lifted a 30-year ban on growing robusta coffee trees, which are more heat-resistant and germ-resistant than Arabica.

However, there is a certain cost to produce zero-emission coffee, and how to get more consumers to pay for it is still a major challenge.

Take the Duota Coffee Cooperative in Solis as an example. The company is located in the Saints' District, and almost all the villages and towns depend on coffee for a living. The factory of the Duota Coffee Cooperative is stocked with millions of coffee beans packed in sacks, and the air is filled with a strong smell of roasted coffee.

Although the Duota Coffee Cooperative is the first coffee company in the world to be certified for carbon neutrality, the 900-member cooperative's main goal was to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Only later did it gradually discover that there are additional environmental benefits in adopting the new process.

"after the introduction of carbon neutralization technology, water consumption has been reduced by 80% and energy consumption has been reduced by 40%," said Adrian Cordero, the company's environmental manager. "the company is currently using coffee shells instead of firewood as energy for coffee bean dryers."

Codelo said that half of the coffee produced by cooperatives is exported to the United States, while the rest is sold to new markets in Asia, where customers are willing to buy their products at higher prices.