(Footnote 7)
“Costa Rican coffee was able to occupy the quality segment of the European market because, unlike Brazil, Costa Rican coffee was processed by the wet method almost from the beginning. [...] With wet method processing hegemonic in terms of market acceptance, less sophisticated and expensive processing methods were effectively closed off to small farmers, who sold their coffee to processors (beneficiadores) from the 1840s on. Processors would in turn act as exporters and served as principal creditors for small farmers” (Roseberry 1995)
