1720 is the probable date of the introduction of coffee to America, when the first seeds of the Coffee Arabica species, Typica variety, arrived on the island of Martinique, Antilles, which were then planted in the Costa Rica Province at the end of the 18th century.
At that time our country had subsistence agriculture. Costa Rican history has changed since 1808: under the aegis of Governor Tomás de Acosta, the cultivation of coffee began to take root in our soil, which has had a deep impact on Costa Rican beings and activities.
The export of coffee
Some decades passed between the introduction of coffee and its consolidation as an export product. During that period, the Costa Rican authorities took a series of measures to promote this industry, among which the following stand out: 1821: the Municipality of San José distributed free coffee plants among neighbors; 1825: the Government exempts coffee from paying tithe; 1831: The National Assembly decreed that anyone who grew coffee for 5 years on vacant land could claim it as their own.
The export of coffee developed since 1832 when Mr. George Stiepel, who traded with England, made his first sale through Chile. The coffee trade with Europe was consolidated in the 1840s, after the Englishman William Lacheur arrived on the sailing ship The Monarc to Caldera and while visiting San José he negotiated the purchase of the harvest from Don Santiago Fernández Hidalgo, one of the main coffee growers of the time and owner of the “El Laberinto” farm.
The type of coffee trees
Regarding the coffee varieties used, the plantings established in the mid-19th century were basically of the Typica variety or criollo of the Arabica species. This type was characterized by its tall size and high productivity related, to some extent, to the fact that during that first stage it was not unusual for coffee plantations to be grown totally or partially exposed to the sun.
However, shady plantations have also been maintained from the 19th century to the present day. At first, the Typica continued to be used. As the coffee trees were tall and leafy, an adequate distance was maintained between them, which in most cases was three yards square; This made the density per productive unit relatively low.
Producers carried out a series of activities aimed at achieving greater productivity: pruning, shoveling, fertilizing, tanking. With the first, the branches were controlled so that the plants developed and the fruits ripened uniformly. Later, other tall varieties were introduced: Bourbon, Tico hybrid, etc. Since the middle of the 20th century, Costa Rican coffee growing experienced a new productive modification derived from the dissemination of high- performance agricultural techniques within the framework of the “Green Revolution.” Among its results, the change in the variety of coffee grown stands out; Low-growing hybrids, Caturra and Catuaí varieties, were adopted.
