Well known for organic coffee production, eco-tourism, and modern processing culture dominated by top quality honeys and naturals, Costa Rica contributes a little over a million 60kg bags annually to the world’s volume of coffee. This is less than 1% of total annual global production. Despite this, coffee remains a very important crop to the economy of the country with coffee exports valuing at over $415 million in 2023.
Coffee may have been introduced to Costa Rica as early as 1779, from Cuba. The country adopted commercial production before most other Central American countries in response to declining indigo trade, booming by the late 1820s with exports destined for England. Although it was bound for England, it stopped in Chile, was rebagged and named “Café Chileno de Valparaíso”. During the early production years, producers did not have contact with anyone that had ships that sailed to Europe.
Direct export began in 1843, and England began to invest more financially in the country. This led to the establishment of an Anglo-Costa Rican bank in the 1860’s that was meant to provide finance to support the growth of the coffee industry. For almost 50 years, coffee was the sole export for the country.
Infrastructure for coffee in the country is well-established. The industry drove the construction of the first railroads in the country as well as funding hospitals, post offices, and. Many of the upper class were coffee growers and traders, causing unequal distribution of power. Often, those who were put in positions of power in the coffee community had ties to government officials. The revenue from the coffee industry contributed to these larger infrastructure projects, but still exacerbated this unequal power play. Wet mills were built country-wide after wet milling technology was introduced in 1830. The combination of supportive infrastructure and washed coffees being more desirable for coffee buyers allowed Costa Rican producers to get higher prices for their coffee.
Growth of the coffee industry in the country seemed exponential but was limited by the amount of land they could use. For a time, the country focused on quantity rather than quality by planting high yield cultivars. As the specialty coffee market kept growing, there was a refocus on quality to get higher price per pound for coffee cherry.
An export tax funds ICAFE, est. 1933, which invests in scientific research, marketing, industry oversight, and provides a guarantee of farmgate pricing based on the FOB price, unique among these types of organizations.
The Costa Rican government made some attempts in the mid 20th century at protecting small growers from being exploited by middlemen purchasing raw cherry and receiving a larger profit. The first organization was called Institute for the Defense of Coffee. Once of their initiatives was to limit profits middlemen could obtain from raw cherry. By 1948 this transformed into Oficina del Café, which shared responsibility with the Department of Agriculture.
Fair Trade coffee has created quite the presence in Costa Rica, with over 70,000 farmers growing Fari Trade certified coffee. Organizations like Fairtrade International and Rainforest Alliance provide certifications for farmers to obtain higher price points for their coffee. With this certification comes annual fees and audits to ensure protocols are being followed. These costs can be difficult for small producers to pay, and one solution to this problem is to become part of a co-op that can share the fees and organize many small producers to contribute to larger lots that fall under this certification.
Costa Rica is very mountainous with many volcanos in the northern portion of the country. Due to the high elevation, it allows lots of land with different microregions to grow high quality coffee. West Valley is where some of the first farmers settled during the 19th century and reaches up to 1600m in elevation. The volcano-rich, highly-populated Central Valley contains the capital city of San José. Tarrazu Is just below Central Valley, and has long been known for its coffee quality. The name has been marketed so well that some coffees from different regions will be rebranded as Tarrazu to get higher price points. Brunca is in the southern region of the country that boarders Panama to the east. and hits an elevation of 1700m. After World War II, Italian settlers started the first coffee farms in Brunca with Costa Ricans. In present day, the region relies almost entirely on coffee production with almost 3,000 producers in the region.
Caturra and Catuai are commonly grown in Costa Rica, as are both Villalobos and Villa Sarchi locally adapted mutations. Each of these are dwarf trees, and Villa Sarchi is the pure arabica parent of the Sarchimor group of hybrids.
ICAFE developed important locally adapted hybrids Costa Rica 95 and ICAFE 95, both of which are Catimors.
