- Narrator: There's a place at Starbucks headquarters
in Seattle where an elite team of tasters check
the quality of coffee on behalf of the whole world.
It's called the cupping room.
(rattling)
The team in the cupping room has just brewed something
that could change the future of coffee as we know it.
But wait, now we've gotten ahead of ourselves.
To really understand the art and science
that went into this groundbreaking cup of coffee
we must travel 3,429 miles southeast,
give or take,
to Costa Rica.
There's a coffee farm there at the foot
of a spectacular volcano.
It's called, Hacienda Alsacia.
Beautiful, right?
See the future of coffee is at a bit of a crossroads.
There are more coffee drinkers in the world than ever before
yet each year problems like climate change,
disease, and diminishing natural resources
can make the business of coffee farming harder and harder.
Starbucks purchased Hacienda Alsacia in 2013
to better understand these challenges
and to look for solutions.
Since then, the farm has become a hub
of research and discovery.
Discoveries that agronomist Carlos Mario hopes
will help coffee farmers all over the planet.
- Open-source agronomy is to really share
information and seeds.
Sustainability is critical to improve the living condition
for the farmers.
- Narrator: The farm has been putting its own research to work.
Developing agricultural practices farm manager Victor
says have led to some impressive gains
in sustainability and productivity.
- From the beginning to now here in Hacienda Alsacia
we are saving four times the amount of water.
We are saving more than 50% the amount of power
and then having doubled the coffee production
here on the farm.
- Narrator: This is probably a good time to tell you
about one of the most interesting things happening
at Hacienda Alsacia on a plot of coffee trees
that have earned the nickname, El Paraiso.
On this plot Victor and his team are using all sorts
of interesting and cutting edge techniques
for everything from soil management to pruning.
The average hectare of coffee trees in Costa Rica
produces about 25 fanegas of coffee.
Or roughly, 2,500 pounds.
The average at Hacienda Alsacia
produces even more, 40 fanegas.
But some plots on the farm, like El Paraiso
are now producing double, triple,
even quadruple the average.
The branches of the trees on El Paraiso
are so thick with cherries that farm manager Victor
says they look more like corn cobs than coffee trees.
- Victor: Corn cob.
- Narrator: Another interesting thing happening at the farm
is science, lots of science.
For years Carlos Mario has been working
to create new coffee tree hybrids that are resistant
to some of the devastating side effects of climate change.
Like the deadly fungus coffee leaf rust.
He takes the strongest trees
with the most desirable characteristics
and, how do you say, introduces them to each other.
- Carlos Mario: This is a really old fashioned process
that has been implemented for many different crops.
It's something that you can teach to farmers.
- Narrator: Carlos Mario is doing what bees already do.
Just more purposefully.
He is a skilled matchmaker, working to create trees
more resistant to deadly coffee leaf rust
and hardy enough to withstand the stress of climate change.
Each new generation of coffee trees is stronger
and more ready for the future than the one before.
But what about other farms and other farmers?
Starbucks buys coffee from more than 400,000 farmers
in 28 countries.
And the journey of coffee beans from farms to our cups
has never been a short or easy one,
even in the best of times.
- Carlos Mario: Because we are talking about not just
the coffee production but also the living conditions
for many farmers, globally.
That they are facing a lot of new problems.
For example, insects that were not a problem
but now we are facing a serious problem
because the changes in temperature,
the changes in the rainfall pattern
is putting a lot of new problems which again,
the farmer has to solve in order to keep producing coffee.
- I'm the fourth generation of coffee growers
so I feel lots of responsibility to keep going,
to keep the business going.
- Narrator: All the agricultural art and science in the world
doesn't matter if it doesn't help other coffee farmers
and if the coffee of the future doesn't taste good.
This brings us back to Seattle where the team
is about to take their first sip of coffee
from two of Carlos Mario's newest hybrid coffee trees.
- Leslie: They're stand alone, they shine.
This is a flavor of Costa Rica I'm not familiar with.
How cool is that?
- Mary: I just can't wait until we can get 100,000 pounds of it.
(chuckling)
- Narrator: Well, there you have it.
It's kind of one big circle.
Hacienda Alsacia shares its agronomy research,
sustainable farming practices,
and disease resistant coffee trees
with farmers all over the world so their farms
can be more productive and sustainable.
Which means they can grow even more delicious coffee
for Starbucks to buy and for you to drink.
Which means coffee farmers have more money
to support their families and communities.
There's a sign at the farm that probably summarizes
what all this means better than I can.
Starbucks and farmers all over the world are working hard
to ensure the future of coffee for everyone.