Costa Rican Coffee Culture Costa Rica Coffee History

Costa Rica, with a population of only 3.5 million, has 400 million coffee trees, and coffee exports account for 25 per cent of the country's total exports. Costa Rica has also benefited from the establishment of the Central American Society for Agricultural Research (Turrialba of the Central American Agricultural Research Institute, IAAC) in Tarasu, which is an important international research centre.

Costa Rican coffee producing area

Costa Rican coffee producing area

Costa Rican coffee beans

Costa Rican coffee beans

High-quality Costa Rican coffee is called "extra hard beans". This kind of coffee can grow above 1500 meters above sea level. Altitude has always been a problem for coffee growers. The higher the altitude, the better the coffee beans, not only because the higher altitude can increase the acidity of the coffee beans and thus increase the flavor, but also because the night temperature at the higher altitude is lower, which can make the trees grow slowly, thus making the coffee beans have a stronger flavor. In addition, due to the high altitude drop caused by sufficient rainfall, is also very beneficial to the growth of coffee trees. However, while there are many advantages to growing coffee at higher elevations, the resulting additional transport costs must be taken into account, which is likely to make coffee production unprofitable. The coffee industry in Costa Rica has adopted new technologies to increase efficiency, including the use of "electric eyes" to select beans and identify coffee beans of irregular size.