Coffee was first discovered in North Africa near modern-day Ethiopia. Popular legend has it that a goat herder named Kaldi one day observed his goats acting like children and playing briskly after munching on some berries. The legend goes on to note that Kaldi too ate the berries and danced alongside his goats with a renewed energy. The berries, it turns out, were ripe coffee cherries.

While romantic, the discovery of coffee beans was likely more grounded in caloric survival rather than dancing goat herders. For centuries coffee beans were chewed raw in Ethiopia and modern-day Yemen, located in the Southern Arabian peninsula. The plant was widely known to have a reinvigorating effect, especially to those living in harsh pastoral environments. Historic evidence suggests that these nomadic herders would mix animal fats and coffee beans together. The result was a compact, caffeinated, high-protein meal that could easily be stored and transported long distances. Thus, coffee beans were in large part the first "power bars" of the ancient world.

Coffee was originally brought to Costa Rica during the late eighteenth century. The cultivation of coffee expanded slowing but definitely throughout the Central Valley, and Costa Rica was the first Central American country to establish coffee as a national industry. By 1832, Costa Rica was exporting high-grade coffee beans to Chile. However, Chile was fleecing Europe, especially London, as they were re-bagging the coffee from Costa Rica and selling it as their own under the name of “Café Chileno de Valparaiso.”

It was not until the year of 1843 that Costa Rica coffee became world renowned. In that year, a group of entrepreneurial merchants, aware of the "Chilean conspiracy," set sail for the unexplored Costa Rican coast to find the coffee themselves. Led by William Le Lacheur Lyon, captain of the English ship, The Monarch, the group eventually located the premium coffee beans they were searching for. The Monarch then transported several one-hundred pound bags of coffee back to Europe and helped put Costa Rica coffee on the map as one of the world’s premium coffees. Chile, needless to say, was not so happy.

It should come as no surprise that Costa Rica and coffee work so well together. Costa Rica receives abundant rainfall and sunshine. The soils have a slight degree of acidity and are enriched by volcanic ash. This promotes a good distribution of the plant’s root system, which in turn retains humidity and facilitates oxygenation. This combination of environmental characteristics invigorates the coffee plant and contributes to the high quality of Costa Rica coffee.

Additionally, Costa Rica is the only country where the arabica tree is permitted by law to be grown. Arabica coffee beans are superior to robusta in both taste and flavor.

Small Batch Coffee Roasting

Unlike the vast majority of large-volume coffee roasters whose coffee beans have been stored, packaged, boxed, shipped, re-shipped and put on the shelf for weeks or even months, Monarch roasts up to twenty times a week to ensure our customers always enjoy the freshest specialty coffee.

Costa Rica Coffee

Many professional tasters consider high-grade Costa Rica coffee the "perfect" cup. Costas are medium-bodied coffees that taste great all day long, with a perfect balance of snappy acidity, clean aroma and bright, sweet flavor.