Farmers, roasters, and café owners across Puerto Rico are finding new ways to bring the island’s coffee legacy back to life.
BY AMARIS MERCADO
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Photos courtesy of Amaris Mercado
Puerto Rican coffee once stood proudly on the global stage. But over time, hurricanes and economic shifts shrank the agriculture sector to just about 1%, leaving more than 10,000 coffee farms abandoned over the past few decades.
Today, even though coffee remains a morning daily ritual for Puerto Ricans, much of the coffee sold on the island is mixed with imported foreign beans. With coffee agriculture now making up just a small fraction of Puerto Rico’s economy, many leaders believe that to revive the industry, the future lies in adding a varied approach: through renewed attention on specialty coffee and a growing movement to connect farms and visitors through agritourism, where growers open their farms for tours, tastings, and hands-on experiences that celebrate Puerto Rican culture and cultivation.
This two-part article will spotlight farmers on La Isla del Encanto and what they stand for. But before diving into the present-day movements of specialty coffee and agritourism, let’s start with a little historical context on Puerto Rican coffee and highlight the voices of prominent leaders shaping the island’s coffee sector.
The Collapse of a Coffee Era and the Rise of Imports
Puerto Rico’s coffee dominance in the 18th and 19th centuries fueled cultural pride and the island’s economy. But after U.S. colonial control began in 1898 and a devastating hurricane hit the country the following year, the sector collapsed. Coffee production shifted to sugar, and decades of policies favoring urbanization left coffee farming behind.
Today, large commercial corporations dominate 80% of Puerto Rico’s coffee production, mixing imported beans with local ones under the “Made in Puerto Rico” label. For many small farmers, true 100% Puerto Rican coffee has become a rarity—and a pivoting point to change the coffee sector on the island.
Climate-Smart Farming and Opportunities Through Agritourism
Puerto Rico’s location in the heart of “Hurricane Alley” makes coffee cultivation uniquely vulnerable to extreme weather, especially when conventional sun-grown methods are used. That’s where climate-smart strategies come in.
Backed by a $15 million USDA grant, the Café del Futuro project is working with 2,000 coffee farms across the island to reintroduce shade trees, cover crops, and agro-ecological practices. “Puerto Rico has good coffee that is worth specialty,” says the project’s director, Marcus Laws, “but we’re about 20 years behind other specialty markets like Guatemala or Costa Rica.”
The project also supports agritourism as a way to build economic resilience. “Coffee is a perennial crop,” Marcus continues, “so farmers need income in the off-season, and agritourism can help fill that gap.”
However, he warns that if tourism becomes the island’s only industry, Puerto Rico risks becoming even more vulnerable to climate events and global downturns. “But if we balance (tourism) with sustainable farming, we protect both land and livelihoods.”
Farm to Cup: A Café’s View on Agritourism
That same vision also resonates with Abner Roldán, co-founder of Café Comunión: one of the leading specialty-coffee shops on the island, which he runs alongside his wife, Karla Ly Quiñones. Abner, a two-time national Latte Art Champion, says he would love to serve only Puerto Rican coffee—but the supply just isn’t there.
“There isn’t enough local coffee that meets specialty standards,” he says. Climate challenges, poor coordination among growers, and exploitative investment models all contribute to the scarcity. But agritourism, he believes, could help shift that.
“Most people don’t even know Puerto Rico grows coffee,” he says. “But when they visit farms and see the process, something changes. They taste our culture.”
Stay Tuned for More
It is evident that agritourism alone won’t be able to solve every issue concerning Puerto Rico’s coffee industry, but it’s a step forward to build resiliency. It’s a way for coffee farmers to diversify their income, share their culture, and fortify pride in Puerto Rican-grown coffee. As both policy leaders and café owners begin to recognize the potential of agritourism, the next question becomes: What does this look like on the ground?
In part two of this series, we’ll head into the mountains to meet farmers who are already putting these ideas into practice: growing local specialty coffee with care, welcoming visitors to their farms, and redefining what Puerto Rican coffee can be.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amaris Mercado (she/her) is a Puerto Rican writer, researcher, and café wanderer based in Rome. Passionate about coffee, sustainability, and storytelling, she explores the world one cup at a time and shares her journey on her coffee-focused Instagram, @caffeologie.
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