Café Britt
Encyclopedia
Café Britt produces gourmet coffee, fine chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

 and specialty gift items. They have more than 77 gift stores in eight countries and an online store. They operate in many countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States. They create and sponsor coffee-related tourism and education in Costa Rica
Tourism in Costa Rica
Tourism in Costa Rica is one of the fastest growing economic sectors of the country and by 1995 became the largest foreign exchange earner. Since 1999, tourism earns more foreign exchange than bananas, pineapples and coffee exports combined...

.

History

New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 coffee broker Steve Aronson founded the company in 1985 to market roasted Costa Rican coffees to the domestic market. "At the time, the country's coffee-industry regulations required that all of the best coffee be exported, unroasted, to foreign markets. Britt lobbied for reforms to allow some of the best coffee to be roasted and sold locally". The company succeeded in marketing its coffees to Costa Rican hotels, restaurants and supermarkets. Café Britt also markets its coffees on the Internet.

Tourism

In 1991, Café Britt became the first Costa Rican company to combine coffee with tourism. They opened their coffee plantation to the public that same year and created a fun, insightful and exciting way to experience the origins of true gourmet coffee from a red cherry to that luring, irresistible brew you sip each morning. Café Britt was thrilled to share the hidden gem of Costa Rican gourmet coffee along with Costa Rican heritage with visitors and tourists from near and far.

Its CoffeeTour, a play staged in its own coffee plantation, traces coffee’s production cycle. Some 50,000 people take the tour each year.
More technically oriented versions of the tour have been developed for visiting coffee experts or serious amateurs.

Britt's CoffeeTour has become one of Costa Rica’s major tourist attractions welcoming over 500,000 visitors from amateurs to coffee lovers to business travelers.

Go Green

Grupo Britt is environmentally certified according to the ISO 14001:2004 international standard. Meaning they've proven to have programs and projects in place that make efficient use of natural resources, prevent pollution and reduce their impact on the environment to a minimum.

Their coffee and chocolate plants follow strict operating procedures to optimize their environmental friendliness. These procedures govern such factors as emission control, energy consumption and proper water handling.

Go Social

Grupo Britt and its Britt Shop division support local artisans with training programs and craft fair sponsorships. Though their company, many small and medium-sized Costa Rican craftsmen and women export their products to many countries abroad.

Expansion

Today, the company employs nearly 1,000 people. Many of the 77 coffee-and-gift stores it owns and operates are located in international airports, including the Juan Santamaría International Airport
Juan Santamaría International Airport
Juan Santamaría International Airport is located in Alajuela Province, about from downtown San José, Costa Rica. It is a hub airport for TACA/Lacsa, and focus city airport for Copa Airlines. It is named after Costa Rica's national hero Juan Santamaría, a courageous drummer boy who died in 1856...

 in Costa Rica, the Jorge Chavez International Airport
Jorge Chávez International Airport
Jorge Chávez International Airport , known as Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chávez in Spanish, is Peru's main international and domestic airport. It is located in Callao, 11 kilometers from the Historic Centre of Lima and 17 km from Miraflores. Callao is the port city now fully...

 in Perú, the Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Chile, the Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the South Florida area...

 in the United States, the V.C. Bird International Airport in Antigua & Barbuda, the La Tontouta International Airport
La Tontouta International Airport
La Tontouta International Airport or Nouméa - La Tontouta International Airport is the main international airport on New Caledonia. The airport is in the municipality of Païta, approximately 52 km northwest of Nouméa. In 2006, 415,813 passengers used the airport...

 in New Caledonia and Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico.

Its coffee-roasting and chocolate-making operations are based in Costa Rica, Peru and Mexico.

See also

  • Coffee production in Costa Rica
    Coffee production in Costa Rica
    The coffee production in Costa Rica played a key role in the country's history and still is important for the Costa Rican economy. In 2006, coffee was Costa Rica's number three export, after being the number one cash crop export for several decades. In 1997, the agriculture sector employed 28...

  • Economy of Costa Rica
    Economy of Costa Rica
    The economy of Costa Rica heavily depends on tourism, agriculture, and electronics exports. Poverty has been reduced over the past 15 years, and a social safety net put into place....

  • Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee
    Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee
    Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee or Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee is a classification of coffee grown in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. The best lots of Blue Mountain coffee are noted for their mild flavour and lack of bitterness...

  • Juan Valdez Cafe
    Juan Valdez Cafe
    Juan Valdez Cafe is a multinational coffeehouse chain based in Colombia that specializes in coffee retail. Its purpose is to become a member of the worldwide coffee restaurant business, and promote Colombian coffee, which is reputed to be the richest coffee in the world ₢...

  • Juan Valdez drinks Costa Rican coffee
    Juan Valdez drinks Costa Rican coffee
    Juan Valdez drinks Costa Rican coffee is a slogan, implying that Juan Valdez, a fictional character created by the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia , drinks coffee from Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, the slogan is popular on bumper stickers...


External links

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