An Inspiring Coffee and Sustainability Tour at Finca Rosa Blanca

This past Tuesday, members of the Rainforest Alliance's Costa Rican agriculture and tourism team enjoyed a staff development event at Hotel Finca Rosa Blanca. The aim was to provide a first-hand experience of a Rainforest Alliance CertifiedTM coffee farm and VerifiedTM hotel to learn more about sustainable practices "in the field."

Finca Rosa Blanca Coffee Plantation and Inn

After a beautiful ride through the verdant hills of the Central Highlands of Costa Rica, we arrived at this boutique hotel and organic coffee plantation, making this a perfect location for our outing.

Welcomed by owner Glenn Jampol, we headed to the conference room to learn more about the story of how this impressive location began.

Founded in 1985 as a coffee farm, Glenn and his wife Teri Osman have been committed to conservation from the start. Integrating traditional Costa Rican methods of coffee growing, the farm earned Rainforest Alliance Certification in 2005. Our team learned all about this journey on a tour through the coffee farm, guided by staff biologist Leo, whose passion for coffee was contagious and had all of our mouths watering for a cup of fresh organic coffee!


The owners soon became aware of the estate's potential for hosting tourists. With a constant concern for the environment and local community, this green boutique hotel has managed to achieve not only the maximum of 5 leaves from the national Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST) but it is also the first and thus far the only hotel to have obtained a 100% score on all criteria.

Journey to Sustainability

"We are coffee farmers that run a hotel, not the other way round." ~Glenn Jampol

Hearing about the development of this hotel from a sustainable tourism pioneer was truly inspiring. When the owners first embarked on their journey towards sustainability, both Costa Rica as a tourism destination and the concept of sustainable tourism in general were still relatively unknown internationally. Glenn described two events as being vital for attracting international visitors to Costa Rica, and the hotel:

First, the Nobel Prize being awarded to former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias in 1987 brought international attention to the country. Second, a 15-minute video filmed by CNN in Costa Rica about environmental conservation, which featured owner Glenn, among others, brought international interest and visitors to Costa Rica and the hotel. "Guest suggestions have always played an important role in improving the environmental and social practices of the hotel," says Glenn.

Glenn compares his journey towards sustainability to a bus ride - once you get on the bus, you can't get off. After driving enough miles, you no longer want to get off as it becomes obvious that sustainability is the most efficient option and the best solution not only for the natural and social environment, but also for your economic bottom line. Equaling sustainability with efficiency, his positive vision is that one day, all tourism will be sustainable and the label "sustainable tourism" will be redundant.

Social and Environmental Practices

"For our children, sustainability won't be a possibility but the norm." ~Glenn Jampol

Walking through this beautifully designed hotel, it soon becomes clear that sustainability is not simply implemented as a marketing gimmick, it is a way of life here. The walls are decorated with local paintings, about 80 percent of the furniture is purchased locally, and evidence of environmental best practices subtly shows throughout the hotel's premises.

For instance, several solar panels provide the electricity needed to heat water in the hotel, the swimming pool is not cleaned with chlorine but by means of ionization, recycling is part of the culture, the hotel is constructed in a way that enables natural light to enter and thus minimize energy use for lighting, and the majority of employees are from the local area. All these and many more sustainability practices have been implemented over the course of more than 15 years.

Last but not least, a remarkable initiative is the donation of five percent of the income from the bar and restaurant to a local school. Over the years, a wide variety of other projects have been carried out, such as funding a computer room with Internet access, a library, providing sustainability training, and much more. Several of these children are now entering the workforce, carrying with them an environmentally-conscious mindset and many innovative ideas.

Jampol and Osman believe that children are the hope for our future, and with their dedicated efforts, they are certainly helping to plant the seeds for a sustainable one.

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