Cupping table at Finca Las Lajas. Courtesy of Magnolia Coffee Co.

If there’s a coffee-producing country that has become the poster child for intentionality, it’s Costa Rica. Producers here have spent two decades doubling down on precision — processing, lot separation, traceability — while government policy has largely supported farmer incomes and pushed sustainability forward. Today, the result in the cup is a hedonic sensory spectrum, from crystalline washed profiles to extravagantly fruit-forward experimental lots, with an ever-tighter relationship between flavor, terroir and process.

The Micro-Mill Ethos (Still) Defines the Origin

Roaster David Grimm, of Regulator Roasting Company, and his family on a visit to Finca Las Lajas. Courtesy of Regulator Roasting Company.

Costa Rica’s early-2000s micro-mill revolution — families installing their own wet mills and managing drying in-house — created today’s terroir-plus-process identity. By selling traceable microlots directly, smaller producers captured value, experimented with processing, and built farm-level brands. That movement remains the backbone of Costa Rica’s specialty profile: single-farm washed coffees with laser-cut clarity; honey lots ranging from yellow to black; and meticulously managed naturals and anaerobics designed for intrepid palates.

Marcus Young and Raul Velasco of goodboybob at the cupping table. Courtesy of goodboybob.

Costa Rica’s coffee-growing regions are rightly called out by producers for their inherent diversity of terroir that influences cup character. The country’s eight main producing regions —Tarrazú, West Valley, Central Valley, Tres Ríos, Brunca, Orosí, Turrialba, and Guanacaste — span a range of altitudes from about 1,200 to over 2,000 meters, with Tarrazú’s high-elevation farms producing some of the most impressively structured coffees. Volcanic soils dominate much of the landscape, contributing mineral richness and excellent drainage that encourages slow cherry maturation and dense bean development. A marked dry season during harvest promotes even ripening and clean processing, while cool nights at altitude preserve acidity and aromatic complexity. These factors combined make Costa Rica well-positioned to deliver coffees with crystalline clarity, elegant structure, and a wide spectrum of flavor — from complex citrus and spice-toned florals in high-elevation washed lots to lush tropical fruit in carefully managed naturals and honey-processed coffees.

Policy, Transparency and Climate: A Regulated Lab for Quality

Costa Rica’s coffee board, ICAFE, operates within a legal framework highly regarded for transparency, including a revenue-sharing rule that links farmer payments to mill revenues and restrictions that shape vertical relationships along the chain. Academic and policy analyses suggest that these rules help average farmers while imposing real market structure constraints; the net effect is a sector that prizes accountability and quality premiums.

Producer Juan Ramon Alvarado (right) of the Brumas Del Zurqui micromill. Courtesy of Willoughby’s Coffee.

At the same time, Costa Rica has been a global pioneer in low-carbon coffee. The NAMA (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action) Café program — often described as the world’s first agricultural NAMA — coordinates ministries, ICAFE, and private actors to reduce emissions at farm and mill, improve resource efficiency, and position “low-emission coffee” as a market attribute. Several assessments document the initiative’s reach and its burgeoning number of coffee producers farming under climate-smart practices.

Who’s Growing: Fewer Producers, More Specialization

The number of Costa Rican coffee producers has fallen by roughly half over the past decade (to around 25,000), a symptom of consolidation and rising costs in a high-standard economy. Yet, the producers who remain often operate as quality-forward specialists, leaning into microlots, direct relationships with roasters, and agritourism. The result is a market in which fewer, more professionalized farms compete on cup distinction rather than volume.

Coffee drying at Ivan Gutierrez’s Tarrazú farm, Finca La Esmeralda. Courtesy of Dou Zhai Coffee & Roastery.

Processing Innovation: From Honey to Controlled Fermentations

Costa Rica’s signature remains the honey process — a scale defined by how much mucilage stays on the parchment during drying (white, yellow, red, black, each darker step generally increasing fruit intensity). Over the past decade, processors have mastered anaerobic and carbonic maceration styles with remarkable control: fruit sorting by Brix, temperature-regulated tanks or bags, careful timelines, and slow drying on raised beds. When well-executed, these coffees are buoyant, clean, and dessert-like rather than boozy — think hibiscus and stone fruit rather than rum cordial. When pushed too far, ferment markers can dominate. The country’s micro-mill discipline keeps so many of these lots precise rather than random.

Costly to Produce, Worth the Premium

Costa Rica’s cost of production is among the highest in the coffee world. That reality underpins the country’s strategic turn toward microlots, differentiation, and carbon/traceability initiatives. And like much of Central America, Costa Rica sits on the front lines of climate change, perennially facing erratic rains, rising temperatures, pressure from coffee leaf rust, and higher pest loads. So, while you can expect to pay for the mitigation of these realities, you can also expect tactile elegance, controlled sweetness, and an almost architectural clarity that roasters love to showcase.

Why Costa Rica Matters for Coffee Lovers

Nearly 20 years after its micro-mill breakthrough, Costa Rica still sets the standard for origin-level precision. It’s a place where policy, sustainability, and craft have converged: Farmers are encouraged (and often required) to keep rigorous accounts; mills refine processing with scientific discipline; and national programs chase reduced emissions without sacrificing cup quality. Volumes may fluctuate and the grower base may shrink, but the country’s value proposition has never been clearer: distinctive lots with transparent economics and a complex flavor vocabulary compelling enough to delight the best-traveled palates.

Coffeebox’s roaster, CoCo, brewing coffee at a private dinner. Courtesy of Coffeebox.

For roasters and drinkers in 2025, that means a dependable core of classic washed coffees for pour-overs and batch brews — and a steady stream of small, exacting microlots that justify their price for the sensory novelty they provide.

On the Coffee Review Cupping Table

What a whirlwind this was! Roasters from all over the U.S. and Taiwan submitted Costa Rica coffees for our blind cupping. There were no restrictions on region, variety, processing method or roast style, but we can only publish reviews of the highest-scoring coffees, so there is, not surprisingly, some redundancy among a couple of farms now solidly established as processing experts whose coffees are especially sought after by roasters. 

Regent Coffee’s Los Angeles cafe, Brew & Bottle House. Courtesy of Regent Coffee.

And while Costa Rica has eight distinct coffee-growing regions, and we cupped samples from all of them, the lion’s share of high scores came from Tarrazú, arguably the country’s best regarded for its combination of altitude, climate, and cup consistency. What sets Tarrazú apart is its reliability year after year: High-elevation farms, volcanic soil, and a distinct dry harvest season give producers the tools to deliver cup profiles with hallmark citrus, florals, and a crisp structure that specialty roasters can confidently feature as single-origin offerings or blend components. In other words, while other regions produce excellent coffee, Tarrazú has become synonymous with Costa Rica’s highest-quality export standard.

Overall scores ranged from 86-96, while the top 10 reviewed here range from 93 to 96, a very impressive showing. Read them all here and find your best pura vida vibe.

GK Coffee, Costa Rica Mirazù Catajo Geisha Blend – 96 points

Coffeebox Coffee, Costa Rica Mirazù Estate – 95 points

Magnolia Coffee, Costa Rica Las Lajas Double Diamond – 95 points

Dawn Isle Coffee Studio, Costa Rica Perkin Sakura – 94 points

Dou Zhai Cafe & Roastery, Costa Rica Ivan Gutierrez Tarrazú Geisha – 94 points

Green Stone Coffee, Costa Rica Honey Process – 94 points

Willoughby’s Coffee & Tea, Costa Rica Brumas del Zurqui Geisha – 94 points

Goodboybob, Costa Rica Rio Negro – 93 points

Regent Coffee, Costa Rica San Isidro – 93 points

Regulator Roasting, Costa Rica Las Lajas Cumbres del Poas – 93 points