Tarrazú

Tarrazú is Costa Rica's flagship origin — the mountain cantons of Dota, Tarrazú and León Cortés collectively known as Los Santos, south of the capital in the Talamanca highlands. It is the name that made 'Costa Rican coffee' mean bright, clean, high-altitude Arabica in the international trade.

Altitude is the region's whole argument: the growing zone runs roughly 1,200 to 1,900 m, with most specialty production between 1,400 and 1,800 m — comfortably into Strictly Hard Bean territory, the country's top altitude grade. Rainfall is heavy, around 3,400 mm a year, and average temperatures sit near 18°C. The harvest follows the national window, roughly October to March — approximate dates that vary with altitude and the year.

Production is smallholder coffee in the national mold, organized around the cooperatives and micro-mills that define modern Costa Rican coffee, under the eight-region system maintained by ICAFE, the national coffee institute. Caturra and Catuaí dominate the plantings, with Villa Sarchí and other Costa Rican selections in the mix.

In the cup, ICAFE's regional profile and the trade's consensus agree: full body, bright acidity and intense aroma, with the chocolate-and-citrus poise that made Tarrazú the country's calling-card. That is a documented tendency, not a rule; every lot is farm- and season-specific.

What makes Tarrazú distinctive is altitude plus institution: the highest widely-recognized growing band in Costa Rica, farmed by the cooperatives that built the country's specialty reputation.