Seward native Jon Jost and his wife Marianella bought a Costa Rica coffee farm in 2014 after 14 years of working at Florida State University.
Their story is about hard work, commitment to family and friends, a passion for life and adventure.
Jon and Marianella Jost’s story begins in Lincoln and years later, takes them on a new career path to a coffee-bean farm in Costa Rica.
Jon graduated from Seward High School in 1986. He remembers delivering newspapers for the Seward County Independent before he got involved in junior high sports.
He remembers the freedom of a childhood-living in small-town America. He loved getting on his bike to ride around town and visiting the local pool.
Marianella grew up in Costa Rica. She applied to be a foreign exchange student which led her to Lincoln East High School.
“I had no idea where Lincoln, or Nebraska was. I had to look at a map,” she said.
Jon attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for his undergraduate degree and a master’s degree. With the encouragement of a high school counselor, Marianella stayed in Nebraska and attended UNL as well. The couple had a chance meeting in Marianella’s last year of her degree.
They were both planning to attend the Holmes Lake Fourth of July celebration in Lincoln. As they were each looking for the group of friends they were supposed to be meeting, they found each other. She had a new bike, and he had a new Dalmatian puppy.
“We both went to the same food truck to get something to drink and that’s how we met,” Marianella said.
Ten months later, they married in Key West, Florida.
Jon started out as a student assistant in the athletic department in strength and conditioning for football, basketball, softball and volleyball under Boyd Eppley who was the head strength and conditioning coach at UNL.
The couple set off for a new opportunity in 1994 and moved to Massachusetts for two years, then to Texas for five years, and then to Tallahassee, Florida, for the next 14 years. Jon continued his work for athletic departments at universities in all of those locations.
Both Jon and Marianella worked at Florida State University the last 14 years. He was the director of strength and conditioning, and Marianella worked for the department of International program which is the study abroad program.
She coordinated programs to send Florida State students overseas to study in Costa Rica and all over the world.
Coffee was never a long-term goal for the couple. Right after they married, they discussed the dream of trying to figure out a way they could spend time with family and friends in both Costa Rica and the United States.
In July 2014, they took the leap and moved to Costa Rica.
“To have the freedom to go back and forth between the two countries and see family and friends and kind of have the best of both worlds,” Jon said. “We really didn’t know how or if we were ever going to be able to make that work, and we both really enjoyed our jobs. We really enjoy our careers, but with that being said, we also knew that it was something that we didn’t want to do forever.”
Jon said the decision to move to Costa Rica and buy a coffee bean farm took them both out of their comfort zones.
“For me, it was a really adventurous thing to do,” he said. “I’ve never really felt like that is part of my DNA or a characteristic of myself, but I guess when I look back on the decisions that we’ve made, maybe it is.”
The couple did not initially plan to go into the coffee business but with hard work, planning and research, they found it to be the common denominator between Costa Rica and the United States.
Coffee is one of the biggest exports (second to tourism) in Costa Rica.
“It is very high quality of coffee Costa Rica,” Marianella said.
After researching the field, coffee production was the direction they wanted to take.
“We felt like it would be a great vehicle or way for us to marry the two cultures and enable us to be able to work in both countries,” Jon said. “We changed careers. We took a new life path or a new journey.”
One of the biggest challenges the couple faced was finding a farm to buy that would fit their need. Marianella did a lot of online research and returned to visit farms with her father or brother.
The farm they eventually decided on after two years of searching was one where all of the coffee plants had been taken out and the new plants were only 1-year-old.
Marianella’s sister recommended a person who was very involved with the coffee industry, and Marianella said that individual was a big help in the process.
“We didn’t know anything about coffee,” she said.
Marianella said her family has never been in the coffee business. She said buying a farm with new plants was a risk that took patience and investment.
“The plant doesn’t start full production until it’s 3 years and older,” Marianella said.“At the same time, it was giving us a very good white canvas to start.”
Marianella said the farm’s infrastructure was rough, and it took a lot of hard work from the beginning.
The farm, Café con Amor, is about 14 acres and is located at an altitude of 4,500 above sea level, a factor that the Josts found very important to consider in growing coffee. The mountainous terrain and volcanic soil are ideal for growing Caturra and Villa Sarchi varieties of specialty coffee. The farm is located in the West Valley area, which is known for producing Costa Rica’s best coffee.
The couple’s efforts have paid off in the form of brand recognition in the United States.
They have also taken on a project called Farmers Project to help other local growers in the area connect their coffee with roasters in the U.S.
“One of our goals was to be able to help other people, to do something. It was an adventure for us, and to do something different but at the same time to have positive impact,” Marianella said.
Both Jon and Marianella said the change in careers has been rewarding.
“It’s been wonderful. You have no idea how refreshing it is for us to go back to the United States and sit down with the people at Godiva, or sit down with the people at The Mill, or talk to JD’s Coffee Shop and visit those customers and tell them what we are doing down here,” she said.
The Café con Amor meet and greet will be at 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 21, at JD’s Coffee Shop in Seward.
For more information about the business and how the coffee bean process works, visit www.cafeconamor-cr.com.
