Coffee in Costa Rica

The Fruit

A legend tells the origin of the coffee: an Abyssinian shepherd (present-day Ethiopia), called Kaldi, observed the invigorating effect of small red bush fruits that grew wild, in the goats that had consumed it, an effect he himself proved. by renewing their energies.
From Ethiopia he went to Arabia and India, probably through Muslim pilgrims traveling to Mecca, since the pilgrimage routes were at the same time, for centuries, great trade routes.
Coffee began to conquer territory in the world as the favorite drink in Europe and arrived in Italy in 1645 courtesy of the Venetian merchant Pietro Della Valle. England began to drink coffee in 1650 thanks to the merchant Daniel Edwards, who was the first to open a coffee shop in England and Europe.

The scientific name: Coffea, from the Family: Rubiaceae
Varieties of coffee: Coffea Arabica. Coffea canephora (Robusta), Catuaí, Caturra. Mundo Novo Bourbón, Catiguá MG2, Timor UFV 440-10

History of Coffee in Costa Rica:

1720 is the probable date of the introduction of coffee to America, when the first seeds of the Coffea Arábica species, Typical variety, reached the island Martinique, Antilles, which were later sown in the Costa Rica Province at the end of the 18th century.
At that time our country had a subsistence agriculture. Costa Rican history has changed since 1808: under the aegis of Governor Tomas de Acosta coffee cultivation began to take root in our soil,
Costa Rica was the first Central American country to establish this flourishing industry. Father Felix Velarde was the first sower, who in 1816 refers to having a plot of land with coffee plants. The first coffee plantation was 100 meters north of the Metropolitan Cathedral, at the junction of Avenida Central and Calle Cero.
It was called the “Golden Grain”. The places around which the first plantations were made were characterized by soils of volcanic origin, extremely fertile; a rainy season and a dry one, relatively uniform and favorable temperatures throughout the year for the development of the plant.

Social Impact in CR:

The cultivation of coffee brought whole family’s economic income, at the time of the coffee harvest, the owners of the coffee plantations pay for the collection with the size of a trunk; so, called to a standard measure.
In ancient times Costa Rican families collected coffee, in the present the families that collect coffee in Costa Rica are mostly Nicaraguans.

Places of coffee cultivation in Costa Rica.
In Costa Rica, the marketing of coffee is in the hands of the private sector; however, the State maintains supervision and control through the Coffee Institute of Costa Rica (ICAFE)

The 8 regions are: Central Valley, Tres Ríos, Turrialba, Brunca, Guanacaste, Tarrazú, Orosi, Occidental Valley.

Deseases:

• Death of seedlings or “damping off”
• Coffee rust
• Anthracnose of branches and fruits of coffee
• Cock eye disease
• Cercospora spot
• “Burning” or “cerrite”
• “Koleroga”
• “Root rot”
• Bad pink

Anecdotes:

In the so-called repelas where there was almost no fruit left on the plants, the workers gathered for lunch and coffee, they enjoyed it a lot because they told jokes, stories of the coffee plantation and even took a nap sleeping under the coffee plants.