Things are changing in Costa Rica: Farms and mills operate as brand names, cultivating an image, and buyers scramble to compete for them. Why?
I find myself in Costa RicaCosta Rican coffee is typically very clean, sweet, with lots of floral accents. hey are prized for their high notes: bright citrus or berry-like flavors in the acidity,... ...more again, but it took so long to upload these pictures, that it is not even my most recent trip there. In any case, this place has become difficult to work. It’s the easiest coffee producing country for US buyers to hit, and the pricing for coffees that cup well (and many that don’t) has become ridiculous.
You can’t blame exporters and farmers for trying to get the most, but you would hope they might value longer term relationships over the most recent yokel to come along and buy ridiculously small amounts of coffee at ridiculously huge prices.
What about the cup? Wasn’t it all supposed to be about the cup? Sometimes it seems the train has left the tracks… in any case there are still good coffees in CR and still good farmer and farms. Here are a few…
(ps This travelogue is from 2011) -Tom
I went to Costa Rica in January, which is never a bad proposition, and ended up here. Doesn’t look like tropical forests and sandy beaches, eh? But its a coffee thing, you know. Costa Rica 
The cuppers, setting up a table. These guys do so much work to prepare and track samples. It’s a big job. Costa Rica 
So Inclusive Coffee, I mean, Exclusive, is putting in a new dry mill and that’s pretty exciting, because getting control of quality is always a good thing. Costa Rica 
A quick stop at Finca Los Robles in Central Valley. Power controls are the most exciting thing. Costa Rica 
They have a whole extended family of these little brown dogs. Cafetalera Herbazu Costa Rica 
Parchment coffee, after being removed from the fruit and demucilaged, drying at Finca Los Robles Costa Rica 
Kenia cultivar is the same distribution found scattered around Central america, El Salvador for example. Costa Rica Cafetalera Herbazu Costa Rica 
Geisha or Gesha or Gushah! Not looking super clean. But who knows? Costa Rica Cafetalera Herbazu Costa Rica 
Antonio Barrantes at the warehouse and mill. Herbazu dry-mills their own coffees. Cafetalera Herbazu Costa Rica 
You find Yellow Catuai at many farms in CR foir some reason, sprinkled about here and there. It’s at Herbazu too. Costa Rica 
Kenia cultivar fruit, same as found in El Salvador. Who knows what it is – SL-28? probably not. Costa Rica Cafetalera Herbazu Costa Rica 
The classic Villa Sarchi that Herbazu is known for. Why mess with a winner? Costa Rica Cafetalera Herbazu Costa Rica 
Everyobe but everyone has their little Gesha crop. Why? Perhaps it cups well, perhaps not. Its a risk. Costa Rica Cafetalera Herbazu Costa Rica 
Pretty Gesha flowers, a bit out of season, but so is everything in the coffee areas. Costa Rica Cafetalera Herbazu Costa Rica 
Cafetalera Herbazu, a coffee we are not bringing in this year, but a nice cup! 
Modest to the Nth degree. But still neater than my desk Costa Rica Cafetalera Herbazu Costa Rica 
Costa Rica Costa Rica 
Costa Rica Costa Rica 
Costa Rica Costa Rica 
Not a very scary bear, but an Oso Blanco nonetheless. Costa Rica Costa Rica 
It’s Aldomar, classic Tico in his Chonete (hat) Costa Rica 
Ojo de Gallo Fungus, which results in leaf loss and eventually kills the tree. Costa Rica Costa Rica 
Yep, old Manantiales, which won CoE a lotng time back. Daisy is gone… Costa Rica 
Golden sunlight, honey coffee … well, at least it is a nice looking photo! Costa Rica Costa Rica 
f2.8 is how I roll . Costa Rica Costa Rica 
A big Ficus mothers a little coffee shrub. Finca Manantiales. Costa Rica Costa Rica 
Yeah, thats what they call me at “origin” . You know “origin”. It’s where stuff comes from. Costa Rica Costa Rica 
Farewell Finca Genesis. Your coffee was way too random… but what great people. Costa Rica Costa Rica 
Finca Genesis, swell dogs of Costa Rica 
Santa Lucia mill , roasting their own coffee in a Behmor 1600 . Helsar Del Zarcero Costa Rica 
No senor, not good. Not this delivery at least. Bring on another Cahuela of coffee. Costa Rica 
Demucilaging coffee at Helsar. Costa Rica 
Beautiful twilight in Costa Rica 
Covered drying patio with the evening skies coming through. Costa Rica 
Using enzymes to accelerate breakdown of the mucilage, a test with some stuff I brought from the US. In Costa Rica 
Pretty coffee cherry in Costa Rica 
Costa Rica Costa Rica 
Difference between demucilaged coffee and my enzyme experiment at Helsar – the next day. Costa Rica 
The cream cheese dog, in Costa Rica 
Hernan Solis has a private moment. Costa Rica 
Macho! Well, it usually refers to someone who is blond haired. Costa Rica 
Cabbage is great in tacos, you know. And soup. Costa Rica 
A photo of your favorite coffee producer means you know them really well. Or not. But Ricardo is a great guy… Costa Rica 
Ripe cherry at Leo Rojas Costa Rica 
What they remove before submitting the coffee, Costa Rica 
Harvesting at Leo Rojas Costa Rica 
Harvesting at Leo Rojas Costa Rica 
Total faker, Costa Rica 
Super model for Exclusive Coffee. Costa Rica 
Just don’t eat too much! Costa Rica 
Altos de Abejomal dog, Costa Rica 
Finca Bella Vista, La Loma, Costa Rica 
Caturra, but mixed up and crazy like. Bella Vista. Costa Rica 
Lots of fungus is qhat you get when you grow coffee around 1900m. Costa Rica 
Teh future of the Mena clan at La Joya. Costa Rica 
Creative raking to dry different lots and processes Costa Rica 
With that crazy hat – what a stylish dude. Costa Rica 
I know what you are thinking. You think, that’s a great photo and I am going to steal it and use it for my web site. DON’T. Costa Rica 
Maybe not our top performer in 2011, but solid… Costa Rica 
Familia Calderon, who topped the charts in CoE and want a small fortune for all their coffee now. Oh well. Adios Costa Rica!
