Starting with Coffee beans (2)-- America-Costa Rica

Full-bodied particles, ideal acidity, unique and intense aroma

Tarrazu in Costa Rica is one of the world's leading coffee producers, producing coffee with a light, pure flavor and pleasant aroma. Costa Rica's volcanic soils are fertile and well drained, making it the first country in Central America to grow coffee and bananas for commercial value. Coffee and bananas are the country's main exports. Coffee was introduced to Costa Rica from Cuba in 1729, and today its coffee industry is one of the most organized in the world, producing up to 1700 kilograms per hectare. Costa Rica has a population of 3.5 million, but coffee trees number 400 million, and coffee exports account for 25% of the country's total exports. Costa Rica also benefits from the Turrialba of the Central American Agricultural Research Institute (IAAC), established in Tarazu, an important international research centre.

High-quality Costa Rican coffee is known as "extra-hard" and can be grown at altitudes above 1500 meters. Altitude has always been a problem for coffee growers. Coffee beans are better at higher altitudes, not only because higher altitudes increase the acidity of coffee beans and thus enhance flavor, but also because lower night temperatures at higher altitudes cause trees to grow slowly, thus making coffee beans more flavorful. In addition, due to the high altitude drop caused by sufficient rainfall, the growth of coffee trees is also very favorable. However, while there are many advantages to growing coffee at higher altitudes, the additional transportation costs associated with it must be taken into account, which may well make coffee production unprofitable. Costa Rican coffee has adopted new technologies to increase efficiency, including the use of "electric eyes" to select beans and identify beans of irregular size.

Tarazu, Costa Rica

Tarasu is located south of the country's capital, San José, and is one of the country's most prized coffee plantations. La Minita Tarrazu coffee is locally famous but produced in limited quantities, about 72600 kilograms a year, on land called La Minita, owned by the last three generations of the McAlpine family in England. In fact, the land produces more than 450 tons of coffee per year. But Tara Sulamita is grown without artificial fertilizers or pesticides, and is harvested and picked entirely by hand, to avoid some of the damage done to the beans by air-jet sorting.

Other coffees worth mentioning are Juan Vinas (PR), H.Tournon, Windmill (SHB), Monte bello and Santa Rosa. Fine coffee is grown in Geredia and the Central Valley. Another striking coffee is Sarchi (one of the five towns that represent Costa Rica's "coffee route"), which grows on the slopes of Poas Volcano, 53 kilometers from San Jose. Saatchi was founded in 1949 and has 30770 hectares of land to grow sugar cane and coffee. The area is also known for its handicrafts, attracting tourists from all over the world.

The country's coffee industry, formerly controlled by Instituto del Café de Costa Rica (ICAFE), has been taken over by the Official Coffee Council (Oficina del Café). Among coffee exports, those deemed substandard are colored with blue vegetable dye before being recycled for domestic sale. Coffee consumed domestically (dyed blue or undyed) accounts for about 10 per cent of total production, and local per capita coffee consumption is twice that of Italy or the United States.

China Coffee Trading Network: www.gafei.com