Costa Rica
Coffee Region



Heart of Central America

Costa Rica is nestled in the heart of Central America, and is as diverse as it is beautiful. This little country has it all, from mountains and volcanoes to rainforests that buzz with life and coastlines with great beaches and surf. With such an impressive landscape, combined with its stable government and relative safety compared to its Central American neighbours, Costa Rica is a well-established tourist destination, especially for U.S. travellers, and around 1.5 million visitors are drawn to its shores, forests and mountains each year.

The nation’s stability and forward-thinking governance means Costa Rica has a much higher standard of living than its neighbours, making it a much more expensive country to visit or do business in. The coffee industry is well regulated by the national body Icafe. Under Icafe’s watchful eye, farm workers are monitored and protected with minimum living standards and widely enforced minimum wages for all employees.

 



Coffee Climate

Quality has improved as the cost of production is estimated to be close to $2/lb – almost 25% higher than their Latin American counterparts. No longer able to compete on price with the high cost of land, living and employee wages has forced producers to improve quality.

Costa Rica has become a boutique origin producing value-added coffees through experimental processing. No other origin we work in produces the same diversity and quality of processing methods as Costa Rica. The quality of their naturals in particular is extraordinary, with a clarity and complexity that few of the world's producers can match.

Whilst Costa Rica’s total production volume is in decline, as ‘volume growers’ struggle to compete with producers from neighbouring countries on price, the future of the country’s coffee production seems to be in specialty microlots lots that benefit from inventive and interesting processing methods. Leading the way in this regard are the regions of Tarrazu, the Central Valley, the West Valley and Tres Rios.

 


Costa Rica In Numbers

Population

4,900,000


Altitudes

500 - 1,700 MASL

Producers

72,500


Varietals

Caturra, Catuai

Farm Size

2 Hectares


Processes

Natural, Honey

Rainfall

1,450 mm


Yearly Yield

1.5m 60KG Bags

Native Varietals


Caturra

Caturra is a cultivar from Brazil and is a mutation of Bourbon which is much higher yielding. The tree will not reach the same height as Bourbon and typical characteristics associated with this varietal are bright acidity and medium body.

Catuai

This varietal is a hybrid of Mundo Novo and Caturra and is highly resistant to natural elements that coffee trees face at higher altitudes. It originated in Brazil but is now widely planted throughout Central America. Both the red and yellow strains demonstrate high acidity.

Catimor

A cross between Timor and Caturra created in Portugal in 1959. It has been further developed since then, with descendant hybrids of varying quality, but its predominant characteristics include early maturation and high yields, greater than most other commercial coffee varietals.


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