History of Costa Rican Coffee

Coffee came to Costa Rica in the last decade of the eighteenth century. Its arrival on national scene was discrete, but definitive. Slowly and with perseverance that great works demand, coffe growing expanded over the high lands of the Central Valley. The brotherhood of coffee farmers, both large and small, formed the basis that allowed Costa Rica to become the first Central American country to establish coffee as an industry.

Our first export was to Colombia. Those lonely sacks that crossed our borders in 1820, became the ground breaking activity which, from that moment on, changed the course of our lives. By 1823, we were already exporting quality coffee to Chile. There, it was repackaged for sale to England under the name of "Café Chileno de Valparaíso".

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