The History of Costa Rican Coffee from 1720
Sometime around 1720, coffee was introduced to America, when the first seeds of the Coffea Arabica species arrived on the island of Martinique, Antilles. The seeds were later planted in Costa Rica, then still a province of Spain, at the end of the 18th century.
At that time the country had basic subsistence agriculture, but Costa Rican history changed in 1808 when under Governor Tomás de Acosta, the cultivation of coffee began to take root in the soil, and has penetrated very deeply into the soul and being of Costa Rica.
Costa Rica was the first Central American country to establish this flourishing industry. Outstanding personalities contributed to the development of the crop that created the peaceful and successful country of Costa Rica that we know today.
Father Félix Velarde has been called the first coffee farmer, who in 1816 refers to the fact that he owns a plot of land with coffee plants. The first coffee plantation was 100 meters north of the Metropolitan Cathedral, at the intersection of Avenida Central and Calle Uno (Central Avenue and First Street).
This location today is in bustling downtown San Jose and there is a plaque here on the site to commemorate the first coffee plantation in Costa Rica.
Not far away is the Plaza Central (Central Plaza) where the "coffee oligarchy" taxed themselves to build the beautiful Neoclassical Teatro Nacional (National Theater) in 1890, which at that time cost the huge sum of a million dollars.
After 1816, as the first plants grew, the interest of Costa Ricans in their cultivation increased. Already in 1821 there were 17 thousand coffee trees in production, having made the first export of 2 "quintals" of coffee to Panama in 1820.
In the nascent republic of Costa Rica, the "Heads of State" Juan Mora Fernández and Don Braulio Carrillo supported the coffee-growing activity and saw in coffee the product that would generate an economic movement to benefit our economy and that allowed the economic and social development of Costa Rica.
Around 1840, Don Braulio Carrillo decreed that the lands to the west of San José, in Pavas, be dedicated to coffee plantations. See "Central Valley Growing Region."
The Heads of State thought that the Government should direct coffee policy and be in charge of looking for markets and that the most important was English.
For this reason, parallel to the support of the planting, he ordered the construction of the road to the Atlantic that would allow Costa Rica to have a direct route to the British ports.
The road between San Jose and the Port of Limon has a large section of pristine rainforest that is preserved as a national park to honor Braulio Carrillo.
Data from ICAFE, The Institute of Costa Rican Coffee