Tarrazu Coffee Guide

ICAFE
Tarrazu Coffee Association

Costa Rica Tarrazu gourmet Coffee History

Fist, we present an interesting article about Costa Rica writen in 1981 by David Reed.

Central America´s Beacon of Hope. 

In a context of revolutionary Violence, Costa Rica is a model democracy where issues are decided by ballots instead of bullets 

By David Reed (Reader´s Digest, 1981)

Around dawn each morning, the railroad station in Puerto Limón, a steaming tropical town on Costa Rica´s Caribbean Coast, suddenly springs to life. Passengers pile into wooden coaches. A whistle shrieks.  Soon the little train is climbing into the cordillera, the backbone of Central America. At 5000 feet of altitude, it tops the continental divide. Then the train descends into the central plateau and rolls into San José, the 3700 foot-high capital of a remarkable country.

Costa Rica is almost too good to be true. Unlike many other Latin American republics...Read More, click here.

History of the Tarrazu Valley Before 1950

Now, let's travel through time with this interesting timeline composed by us based on Tarrazu County City Hall old documents:

400 AD: First Indian Settlements. Small villages were built along the Tarrazú and Pirris rivers.

1563: The Conquistador Juan Vasquez de Coronado passes through the Tarrazú Valley heading toward Quepos.

1818: First White settlers, Don José Miguel Cascante among them, arrived.

1826: First land concession granted to Mr. José Miguel Cascante Rojas.

1850: First coffee trees were planted in the valley.

1867: Father Raimundo Mora gives the small village the name of San Marcos.... Read More, click here.

Tarrazú History after 1950 (In Spanish)

Mr. Wilson Picado addresses a very important part of our early coffee related history with the following paper.

Cambio tecnológico y agricultura de ladera en las tierras del suroeste de Costa Rica. 1950-1998.

Wilson Picado U.

V Congreso Centroamericano de Historia.

 julio de 2000.

 I.Esta es una ponencia sobre el cambio tecnológico en la producción agrícola. Es el resultado preliminar de un estudio mayor acerca de la transformación que experimentó la agricultura del cantón de Tarrazú, al suroeste de Costa Rica, entre 1950 y 1998. Su objetivo principal es caracterizar el modo diferenciado como los campesinos locales adoptaron las innovaciones técnicas derivadas de la Revolución Verde. En especial, es un estudio sobre la tecnificación de la producción cafetalera de Tarrazú en el período en mención. Su estructura es simple. En el primer punto se describen las características geográficas del cantón y en el segundo se revisa la evolución de esta agricultura entre 1950 y 1970. En los puntos tercero y cuarto se sintetizan los cambios ocurridos en los períodos 1970-1980 y 1980-1998. Como es la norma, en la última parte se presentan las conclusiones del artículo. Read More, click here

"Jorge Luis Umana, the owner of coffee grower Beneficio Don Evelio,...has set up a company site, www.tarrazucafe.com. So far he's the only grower to do so.." ADAM PIORE, LAUREN WOLLKOFF Newsweek Magazine Journalists, January 29, 2001 issue.

"Tarrazu coffee growers, who produce some of the world's finest, high-elevation beans...now promote their high-quality crop on the Internet at www.tarrazucafe.com" CHRISTINE PRATT, The Tico Times,Aug 18th, 2000

Interview to one of our Costa Rica coffee farmers at Specialty Coffee Retailer Magazine

Coffee University: what you need to know about coffee - Wen Lee takes you to San Marcos de Tarrazu, Click here to see the videos: