Each summer, a group of Cal Poly students spend five weeks living within the community of Agua Buena, Costa Rica, to explore first-hand issues of sustainability and culture.

The summer course, Sustainable Agriculture and Forest Conservation in Costa Rica, is taught by Nick Babin, an assistant professor in the Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences Department.

The College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences forged an additional partnership with the Finca El Bosque de Don Roberto farm where students study to further promote the lessons instilled there. The cooperative agreement allows the college to import an initial 1,000 pounds of green coffee beans from the farm to be roasted locally and sold as a way of raising awareness of sustainably farmed coffee and to provide additional funding to create a scholarship to allow more Cal Poly students to take the five-week summer course.

Coffee is now available for purchase, with direct links to Cal Poly teaching, scholarship and service. For each bag purchased, $4.50 per pound goes to student scholarships. Plus, the coffee is delicious!

This offering is in great part due to the efforts of the 2022 Cal Poly in Costa Rica students, who successfully petitioned our college to develop a CAFES coffee line.  You can purchase the coffee for mail delivery here: https://www.corberosa.com/product-page/elbosque-don-roberto-costarica

There are two options that avoid shipping costs:

1. Corberosa Coffee Roasters booth at the Thursday SLO Farmer’s Market.  Their booth is in front of the Cal Poly Store on Higuera. 
2. NRES Department office (Building 180, Room 209; M-F 9am-4pm).  If you choose this option, you will use the above link to pay but will select the NRES pick-up delivery option.  Note: You will need to fill in an address before getting to the delivery options. 

More details about this program can be found at: https://cafes.calpoly.edu/cultivate-spring-2023/coffee-costa-rica