Tarasu, the capital coffee region of southern Costa Rica

Located in the south of the country's capital, San Jose, Tarasu is one of the most valued coffee growers in the country. La Minita Tarrazu coffee is a famous local product, but its production is limited, about 72600 kilograms a year. It is grown on a piece of land called La Minita, which is owned by the last three generations of the McAlpine family in the UK. In fact, this land can produce more than 450 tons of coffee a year. But Tarasu Latin America coffee is grown without artificial fertilizers or insecticides, and its harvesting and selection are done by hand, in order to avoid some damage to coffee beans caused by air spray selection.

Other coffees worth mentioning are Juan Vinas,PR, H.Tournon, Windmill,SHB, Monte bello and Ssnta Rosa. Fine coffee is generally grown in Geredia and the central canyon. Another striking type of coffee is Sarchi (one of the five towns that represent Costa Rica's Coffee Road), which grows on the slopes of the Poas Volcano volcano, 53km from San Jose. Saatchi, founded in 1949, has a land area of 30770 hectares and grows sugar cane and coffee. The area is also famous for its handicrafts, attracting tourists from all over the world.

The country's coffee industry, originally controlled by the Costa Rican Coffee Industry Company (Instituto del Cafe de Costa Rica, ICAFE), has been taken over by the official Coffee Committee (Oficina del Cafe). Among the exported coffee, those products that are considered to be of substandard quality are colored with blue vegetable dyes and then transferred back to China for sale. Coffee consumed domestically (dyed blue or undyed) accounts for about 10% of total production, and local per capita coffee consumption is twice that of Italy or the United States.