Coffee, an essential bean for Costa Ricans

Thanks to its volcanic lands, Costa Rica is the perfect place for coffee production. The three necessary factors for coffee production are sunlight, rain, and altitude. The flowering mainly occurs between May and November, during the rainy season. Then, in early December, the harvesting begins. There are three picking periods, but by February at the latest, everything is harvested and sorted (unripe beans are sent for composting).

After planting the beans, it takes about a year to have a small shrub, and four years to achieve the first real production. While coffee plantations can last up to 100 years, they are generally used for commercial purposes for only 20-25 years because even if the quality is not affected, the shrub produces less and less coffee over time.

Coffee, however, is only roasted once it’s ready to be sold in its final destination, not in Costa Rica. In fact, it’s the roasting process that gives coffee its distinctive aroma. The producer provides guidance to sellers on the temperatures and machines to use, but they can’t perform this step for them. Coffee is like bread – the fresher, the better!

Costa Rica may not compete with other countries in terms of coffee quantity produced, but it certainly does in terms of quality.

Whether it’s in Santa María de Dota, Monteverde, or the Central Valley, we won’t miss the opportunity to arrange a tour of a coffee plantation for you to learn even more and, most importantly, to savor this excellent coffee.

Thanks to its volcanic lands, Costa Rica is the perfect place for coffee production. The three necessary factors for coffee production are sunlight, rain, and altitude. The flowering mainly occurs between May and November, during the rainy season. Then, in early December, the harvesting begins. There are three picking periods, but by February at the latest, everything is harvested and sorted (unripe beans are sent for composting).

After planting the beans, it takes about a year to have a small shrub, and four years to achieve the first real production. While coffee plantations can last up to 100 years, they are generally used for commercial purposes for only 20-25 years because even if the quality is not affected, the shrub produces less and less coffee over time.

Coffee, however, is only roasted once it’s ready to be sold in its final destination, not in Costa Rica. In fact, it’s the roasting process that gives coffee its distinctive aroma. The producer provides guidance to sellers on the temperatures and machines to use, but they can’t perform this step for them. Coffee is like bread – the fresher, the better!

Costa Rica may not compete with other countries in terms of coffee quantity produced, but it certainly does in terms of quality.

Whether it’s in Santa María de Dota, Monteverde, or the Central Valley, we won’t miss the opportunity to arrange a tour of a coffee plantation for you to learn even more and, most importantly, to savor this excellent coffee.