Costa Rica’s Coffee Culture

From Snow White Flowers to Red Berries- Costa Rica’s Coffee Culture

The Spanish, French, and Portuguese brought coffee beans to the New World from Ethiopia and Arabia. Coffee seeds were first planted in Costa Rica in the early 1800s and were merely ornamental decorations for courtyards and patios with their glossy green leaves, white flowers, and red berries .  The government of Costa Rica, in order to have a crop for export, required every family to to have a least two plants in their yard to test how well coffee would grow.  The Government gave free plants and grants of land to willing participants. The soil conditions and cool mountain climate proved perfect for growing coffee.  By 1840 coffee was big business and oxcarts pulled by oxen were used to transport the coffee over the steep mountains to the port of Puntarenas on the Pacific.  From there it was exported to Europe. By 1850 coffee had made many people wealthy.

Coffee plants are grown in nurseries and transplanted  at one year of age to the fields.
Two years later it bears berries and can continue to bear for many years.

Coffee is harvested  (hand picked) from November to January. The pickers are mostly Nicaraguans who come to Costa Rica for the picking season and then return to their home with the money they have made.

One kilometer north of the hillside town of Heredia one can take a “Coffee Tour” called The Britt Coffee Tour.  This takes you through the entire coffee process, from growing, to harvest.  And you get to taste different varieties of Britt Coffee, considered to be among the best coffee in Costa Rica.
click here to learn about Britt Coffee Tour   http://www.coffeetour.com/classic-coffee-tour

Coffee is grown in higher elevations of the mountains of Costa Rica because coffee likes cool weather. The areas of where you will find coffee plantations are Poas, Barva de Heredia, Tres Rios, and Tarrazu.

Just  six miles north of the town of Alajuela  (on the road north to the Poas Volcano National Park) you will find the Doka Four Generations Coffee Tour.  This coffee plantation is owned and operated by the Vargas-Ruiz family.  They have been growing coffee on this land for four generations of their family.  They have a wonder tour  that offers all the education you need on growing, picking, processing, and exporting coffee.  You get to taste four varieties of this coffee.

If you would like to take a coffee tour contact Ann at  anncreed23@gmail.com  (Costa Rica Learn Travel Company)
Yes, Costa Rica is definitely a “Coffee Culture”  Even the children drink coffee, often at breakfast.  Every afternoon the Costa Rica Tradition of having a cup of coffee begins at 3 pm when Costa Ricans sit down for coffee and sweet cakes.

Where have I had the best Costa Rican coffee.  On the road to the Poas Volcano National park, approximately 6 miles out of Alajuela you will see a little coffee shop where all the tourist stop to test the Doka Four Generations coffee, and the sweets.
Carrot cake and cheese cake top the list of favorites.  The views of the coffee fields are spectacular.  A great place for  photos.

The Poas Volcano National park has a Great Coffee Shop.  Cappuccino  is the best there!
Along with many sweets-cakes, buns, cup cakes, and much more.