Coffee has been grown in Costa Rica since the early 19th century. When the country’s independence from Spain was declared in 1821, the municipal government gave away free coffee seeds to encourage production and records show there was around seventeen thousand trees in Costa Rica at that point.
In 1825 the government continued its promotion of coffee by exempting it from certain taxes, and in 1831 the government decreed that if anyone grew coffee on fallow land for five years, they could claim ownership of it.
While a small amount of coffee was ultimately bound for England, it first passed through Chile where it was re-bagged and renamed as Café Chileno de Valparaiso’. Direct export to England followed in 1843, not long after the English became increasingly invested in Costa Rica. This ultimately led to the establishment of the Anglo-Costa Rican Bank in 1863, which provided finance to allow the industry to grow.
For nearly fifty years, between 1846 and 1890, coffee was the sole export of the country. Coffee drove infrastructure, such as the creation of the first railroads linking the country to the Atlantic, as well as funding the San Juan de Dios Hospital, the first post office and the first government printing office.
Costa Rica’s coffee infrastructure had long given it an advantage when it came to fetching a better price on the international market. The wet process had been introduced in 1830, and by 1905 there were two hundred wet mills in the country. Washed coffees achieved higher prices, and at this time processing coffee in this way added to its perceived quality.
Costa Rican coffee held a good reputation and achieved good prices for its coffees for a very long time. However, there have been recent changes that have brought a great deal of interest to the higher-quality coffees produced in the country.
Costa Rican coffee had a long-standing reputation for good quality, and as such fetched a premium price in the commodity marketplace. What it lacked, as the specialty coffee market developed, was much in the way of traceable coffee. Farmers were investing in small-scale post-harvest equipment of their own and doing more of the processing themselves. This meant they were able to increase control over their coffee and the diversity of styles and coffees from all regions of Costa Rica dramatically increased.
This makes Costa Rican coffees exciting to explore, as now it is easier than ever to taste several different coffees from a particular area side by side, and begin to see the effect geography can have on taste.
Craving Costa Rica is the name of a coffee that’s sold by 413 Inspired Coffee (www.413inspiredcoffee.com) that comes from a province of Costa Rica, named Tarrazu’. This is a medium roast, often called one of the world’s finest coffees. But don’t let the price fool your taste buds. This gourmet coffee delivers good acidity with full-bodied richness. Enjoy an unusually silky flavor that creates a wonderful-tasting, complex profile.
The region of Tarrazu’ has a long standing reputation for quality. The highest coffee farms in the country are in this region and, like many of the other regions, it benefits from a distinct dry season during harvest. The altitude is 1,200-1,900m (3,900-6,200ft) and harvest is November-March.
Costa Rican coffees are typically very clean and sweet, though often very light bodied. However, recently micro mills are producing a wider range of flavors and styles.