After more than a year and a half in the making, Nespresso’s first ever AAA Summer Campus program in sustainability studies took place last summer. During fourteen days - twenty students chosen from 1,100 applicants from around the world - were able to learn about sustainability and coffee production.
The adventure started on the 27th of August, when the participants arrived in Costa Rica. The programme began in Alajuela with a two-days theoretical training in INCAE, the top business school in Latin America.
After learning about Nespresso’s history, the students exchanged their views on sustainable development and tried to agree on a common definition. They then got a chance to trace the origin and trade of coffee and its contributions to Latin America’s economy. The last lecture was designed to help students understand the similarities between the wine and the speciality coffee market and how geographical location plays a key part.
The next three days were dedicated to the discovery of the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) in Turrialba. The tour began in the botanical garden, where participants were able to appreciate the amazing biodiversity of the country.
Students were then able to visit one of the farms that is benefiting from the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program and learn more about the transformation process of coffee in ECOM’s Santa Marķa mill.
To allow the students to enjoy the richness of Costa Rica’s Rainforest and to rest from an intensive week a wide range of activities - including white-water rafting, boat tours and hiking - were organised. Students also got the chance to learn how the non-government-organisation Rainforest Alliance is working to implement sustainability best practices in various sectors such as tourism and agriculture.
The last days were focused specifically around the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program. This part began with a full-day training on how farmers use TASQ, a self-evaluation tool developed by Nespresso and Rainforest Alliance, to improve the quality of coffee. By the end of the exercise the students participated in a cupping session.
The AAA Summer Campus concluded with presentations from the students, who shared with some on Nespresso’s stakeholders what they learned and also provided suggestions as to what the company could do to enhance the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program.
