Excerpt from the Costa Rica Coffe Tour from Puntarenas
Text & images by Javier Martin
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During colonial times, from 1492 to 1821, Costa Rica was the most far apart, isolated colony of Central America, never produced enough richness in gold or silver to attract interest from Spain.
During early 1800ths people started to grow coffee in Costa Rica, Braulio Carrillo –third Chief of State gave out land free for those who wanted to grow coffee, since then many costarricans have had a little piece of land where to grow coffee and other products for their family support.
Coffee (Coffea arabica) is native to Ethiopia and was introduced to Costa Rica around 1808 apparently from a Caribbean island.
Until now days, a big percentage of the production of coffee in Costa Rica comes from small producers.
Like in wine, the altitudinal levels, the acidity of the soil, the hours of sunlight and the average annual rainfall, will determine the quality of the output among flavor, body, aroma and acidity level of Coffee.
After coffee Costa Rica finally has an economy, wealth could now be achieved by this humble, shy but friendly people from Costa Rica, who preferred to establish schools rather than army camps –Costa Rica abolished army in 1949- and developed a high standard of living for the Latin American area.
Find more about the Espiritu Santo Coffee Tour starting from Puntarenas harbor on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica…
