Traction – Doka Estate, San Luis de Sabanilla, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica

Coffee first arrived in Central America in 1740. It came first to El Salvador, but didn't reach Costa Rica until 1796. The first export destination for Costa Rican coffee was Chile. Ironically, Costa Rica's coffee was bought by European merchants who re-exported it and sold it under the label "Chilean Coffee from Valparaiso."

This is the oldest coffee factory in Costa Rica and has been declared part of the country's Historic and Architectural Heritage. Old-fashioned belt-driven machinery processes the beans. The coffee cherries move down from level to level in an ingenious method that employs gravity to assist. As the cherries move through each process, the various layers covering the coffee bean are removed. At the last stage, the beans are spread out on a large concrete platform to dry before being collected in large sacks.