Costa Rica - San Francisco

Costa Rica has grown coffee since the early 19th century when its government encouraged the growth of the industry. Between 1846 and 1890, coffee was the country’s only export with the majority ending up in England leading to the establishment of the Anglo-Costa Rican bank in 1863 which helped to finance the industry. 

Coffee financed much of Costa Rica’s culture and infrastructure such as the National Theatre and the very first railways. During this period Costa Rica established itself as a leading quality-focused coffee producing country. Over time higher yielding coffee varietals gained popularity overthe more complex ‘heirloom’ plants. The quality of the cup profile in Costa Rican coffees suffered. Large wet mills (developed by big brands) bought up and blended the coffee from small farms, this meant these smaller lots lost their identity – in both name and the cup.

Things started to change in the early 2000s, there is still volume production but Costa Rica has also become well known for producing smaller boutique lots, where the coffee has been grown, picked and processed at the farm.

The so called micro-mill system started around twenty years ago when Costa Rica re-invented itself as a producer of speciality, micro-lot coffees. The change was made possible by the advent of small scale coffee processing equipment that was able to operate with very little water - the eco-pulper became widespread and there was a boom in smaller scale farming where growers were able to invest in their own equipment, install it at the farm and sell coffee direct to coffee roasters like us.