The Costa Rica Coffee Industry

Gourmet coffee from Costa Rica has always been the first choice for majority of the coffee lovers from all over the world. So, it is quite obvious that this place is the home to one of the major coffee industries of this planet. Costa Rica is witnessing the production of high quality gourmets since 1779 and Meseta Central was probably the region to host the first production. Meseta Central has every feature that an ideal coffee growing area should have, let it be the soil texture or climatic conditions.

This country was previously known for its production of sugar, tobacco, and cacao, but soon the fame was conquered by Costa Rican coffee. In the next fifty years, Costa Rica witnessed the emergence of a new industry, the 'Gourmet Coffee Industry'. By 1829 it became one of the chief sources of foreign revenues coming to Costa Rica. Shortly thereafter, the gourmets became the chief export item of the country, and the legacy is continuing till date. In the initial days (around 1820) Panama was the only country to import gourmet coffee from Costa Rica, but soon countries like Britain joint the list. By the end of World-War II Britain became the principle consumer of the incredible gourmets from Costa Rica.

Other than Meseta Central, regions like Alajuela, Puntarenas, Cartago, Heredia, and San Jose are also known for growing premium coffee beans. Efforts of thousands of hard working labors on those lands had made Costa Rica almost synonymous to superior gourmet coffee. These laborers are available against minor compensations like 60¢-$1.5 for each basket of coffee beans picked by them. You may think that the rates are much lower than what the harvesters actually deserve, but they are very much similar to the other agricultural wages of Costa Rica.

Mission Grounds Gourmet Coffee
--