Costa Rica Coffee

Coffee from the Central American nation of Costa Rica is prized for its bright citrus acidity as well as its faint chocolaty after tones. Tarrazú near the town of San Marcos in the southern mountains on the Pacific side of the country is the best known region producing this single origin. However, very good specialty varieties are also produced in the Volcan Poas region north of San Jose and in the south central region bordering Panama.

Each of these regions has a range of tastes from chocolaty to spicy to winy. It is important to remember that this country has 130,000 large and small farms even though a handful of fincas garner a disproportionate amount of attention. The major reason this occurs is that these beans are sold by a brand system developed by the mill rather than distinct lots from specific farms. Through the branding system Catimor, a high yielding, but inferior tasting varietal is mixed in. It is important for consumers to avoid getting hung up on brand names as the deciding factor in determining quality.

One reason beans from the Tarrazu region are sought after is that the strictly hard beans (grown from 4000-6000 feet above sea level) are small and compact allowing them to maintain their qualities even for dark roasts. The genuine Tarrazus can be identified by their lively citrus tang and lean flinty body. Tarrazu is the most densely planted high altitude region in the nation with small family owned farms tucked into the high altitude valleys of the Talamanca Sierra producing this excellent coffee.

Cultivation began in this Central American country during the last decade of the eighteenth century. After the plant's discrete but definitive arrival, farming spread slowly through the perseverance that remarkable works demand over the highlands of the Central Valley. The agricultural brotherhood, which included both large and small producers, was the foundation establishing this nation as the first coffee producing nation in Central America. With the ground breaking first exports of coffee to Panama in 1820 the courses of many lives were greatly changed. By 1832 very high quality beans were exported to Chile to be repackaged for sale to England under the brand name "Café Chileno de Valparaiso".

It wasn't till the mid-eighteen hundreds that a group of visionary local exporters began the complex undertaking of exporting directly to London. William Le Lacheur Lyon, captain of the English ship, Monarch, aided these efforts by transporting several 100 pound bags to Europe where this special original variety was launched into world renown. Through cultivation and trade, Costa Rica this humble colony became transformed into a modern nation whose young intellectuals were able to continue their studies in Europe returning as engineers, doctors and entrepreneurs who helped improve the lifestyle of the general population. The economic bounty brought about by coffee production and commercialization allowed this country to construct the "Ferrocarril al Atlantico" railroad in 1890 which permitted the first access to the Atlantic coast. The National Theater inaugurated before awed inhabitants in the capital city of San Jose seven years later is the cradle of Costa Rican culture and a monument to the foresight of the early coffee farmers.

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