Costa Rican coffee has been an international trade commodity since the early 1800s and has been a major source of revenue for Costa Rica up until 1994 when the world coffee cartel collapsed. In the early 1900s, Costa Rican coffee was famous for its high caffeine content and for its flavor.

Prior to 1994, Costa Rican coffee was grown in massive plantations on the hillsides of Costa Rica. The rich volcanic soil and cool climate of the interior — Alajuela, Heredia & Cartago — is perfect for coffee growing.

Coffee berries contain a coffee bean. This bean is picked, processed and dried. Today, migrant workers from Nicaragua pick the beans. Once, the beans are dried, they are shipped internationally to roasters around the world.

Because of the collapse of the world coffee cartel, the need for fair trade has arisen. This need is the result of high prices of coffee at the retail level measured against the substandard wages paid to the coffee bean pickers. It's an unfair relationship and many coffee advertisers are dealing in fair trade coffee, as s result.

The latest in coffee growing in Costa Rica is a concept known as sun coffee. This is a technique where coffee is grown under full sun or under a single tree species. This is a short, high-yielding crop. There is debate about the sustainability of this new technique. The technique is refereed to as technified. The concerns surrounding the technique is that it releases chemicals into the cloud forests.

Coffees produced at companies such as Cafe Britt are shade coffees and not as ecologically harmful to the environment. The debate over coffee is well discussed and worth considering when consuming and going on a tour of a coffee plantation.