Cafecito Por Favor
In my last post I discussed various food throughout Costa Rica and how I thoroughly miss it. However, there is one beverage from Costa Rica that I miss above most of the things I tried there, and that is coffee. Every morning at breakfast, my host mom would bring me a steaming cup of authentic Costa Rican coffee. She would place it down in front of me and say “cafecito para ti.” It was definitely one of my favorite parts of my morning and it really prepared me for the day. What I did not now upon my arrival is that Costa Rica is actually very well known for their coffee. Today, Costa Rican coffee is prized as some of the world’s best. Costa Rica is actually the 13th largest coffee producers in the world and it is shipped everywhere from the United States to Amsterdam. This vast range of coffee buyers is the reason that coffee exports make up around 11% of Costa Rica’s yearly revenue. There are actually 5 main reasons why Costa Rica coffee is some of the best.
1: The first reason is that “inferior” coffee is illegal. What this means is that in Costa Rica, it is actually illegal to grow and or produce coffee that is not 100% Arabica, the highest quality of coffee beans. Costa Rica is actually the only country in the world with such a law, which was passed in 1989.
2: The second reason is that Arabica coffee beans come from delicate plants which need certain types of climates to survive. It just so happens that Costa Rica boasts the perfect climate for such plants due to the high altitudes and mild temperatures. The weather in Costa Rica can be categorized into two parts; the dry season, and the rainy season. Both of these prove to be ideal coffee growing climates. Climate can affect everything from the aroma, body, flavor, and acidity of the coffee produced, making a good climate a necessity in coffee production.
3: The third reason is that Costa Rica coffee beans are handpicked as opposed to mass processed. The people of Costa Rica view coffee making as an art form and a delicate process, so only the ripest beans are picked and processed. Rather than picking all the beans from a plant, only the finest are selected from it.
4: The fourth reason is that Costa Rica has 8 distinct coffee growing regions, all of which have their own unique flavors and blends. Various regions throughout Costa Rica treat the coffee beans differently which leads to a variety of tastes in the coffee. This ability is also thanks to the climate of the country.
5: The fifth and final reason why Costa Rica coffee is so good is because of how clean the environment is there. Costa Rica has various laws that protect over 20% of its land so that it may be preserved and kept clean. The mindset is that if the land is well taken care of, then the agriculture produced will be better.
