Costa Rica

Costa Rica is globally recognized for its high-quality arabica coffee. Coffee is cultivated in eight designated growing regions, each with unique microclimates and flavor profiles. The sector is organized, with ICAFE (Instituto del Café de Costa Rica) overseeing research, quality control, and farmer support. While coffee once dominated agricultural exports, it now accounts for a smaller share, reflecting growth in other sectors. The government also estimates that the number of coffee producers today (~25,000) is half what it was 10 years ago.¹ Nonetheless, Costa Rica remains a leader in coffee agriculture innovation, from micro-mill processing to environmental sustainability programs and climate emissions reductions.

^{1. USDA Coffee Annual: Costa Rica, 2025}

Global export rank

International Coffee Organization, 2017-2019 mean

Coffee produced by smallholders

85%

Enveritas Global Farmer Study, 2018

Our Strategy

Costa Rica has a long tradition of coffee research and strong institutional stability, making it a longtime strategic partner for WCR. Since 2015, WCR has collaborated with Costa Rican institutions, including ICAFE and CATIE across multiple programs to strengthen agricultural R&D. In 2023, ICAFE joined the Innovea Global Coffee Breeding Network to drive long-term innovation in variety development. WCR has also partnered with CATIE on multiple projects over the last decade, including the development of a strategy to protect global coffee genetic resources; the development of breeding tools to improve the efficiency and accuracy of coffee breeding; and propagation of new arabica material. Private-sector partners are also conducting field trials of new WCR F1 hybrid varieties in Costa Rica to evaluate their performance under local conditions, supporting faster farmer access to high-performing, genetically verified trees.

Current Activity

Breeding Trials

All Programs

Breeding

Breeding for the Future

Transforming coffee agriculture for climate-resilience through collaborative global breeding

Trials

Next-Generation F1 Hybrid Varieties

A new class of coffee varieties for climate change

Trials

Coffea Arabica Genetic Diversity

Field trials for a genetically diverse collection of arabica accessions

Breeding

Training + tools

Global tools to enable breeding modernization

Our Partners

Instituto del Café de Costa Rica (ICAFE)

The Instituto del Café de Costa Rica (ICAFE), founded in 1933, regulates all coffee activities and is a source of innovation, investigation, and technological development in commitment with the environment in all the coffee sectors of Costa Rica.

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CATIE

The Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) is a regional center dedicated to research and graduate education in agriculture, and the management, conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. CATIE holds one of the world's most important collections of Coffea germplasm, with over 1,900 accessions of 11 species from Ethiopia, Yemen, Kenya, Tanzania, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico.

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Aquiares

One of Costa Rica’s largest and oldest coffee estates; produces shade‑grown Arabica and sustains a community of over 1,800 on Turrialba Volcano slopes. The company is implementing variety trials with the support of WCR member company Counter Culture.

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Starbucks Hacienda Alsacia

A research farm owned by Starbucks, where climate‑resilient, disease‑resistant varieties and sustainable practices are developed in support of Starbucks' global farmer training programs.

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Asia

Costa Rica

Current Activity

Programs in Costa Rica

Our Partners

Instituto del Café de Costa Rica (ICAFE)

CATIE

Aquiares

Starbucks Hacienda Alsacia

More Countries

Vietnam

Ghana

United States

News and Updates

Breeding coffee for quality: an interview with Dr. Verônica Belchior

Mind the gap

Innovea breeding trials come to life around the world

Second annual member day fosters a deeper connection to global variety development research

World Coffee Research’s F1 hybrids transition to pre-commercial trials

First seedlings from the Innovea network transplanted for field evaluation

Forging the future of coffee—together

We’re hiring a Senior Research Technician in El Salvador!

Inaugural WCR member day offers roasters, retailers, and suppliers the opportunity to experience research first-hand

First seeds from the Innovea Global Coffee Breeding Network now germinating around the world

World Coffee Research releases open-access Coffea arabica genetic fingerprinting database

World Coffee Research and collaborators awarded new USDA AFRI grant to modernize coffee breeding

USDA-ARS Joins WCR Global Coffee Breeding Network, Adds Access to New Germplasm

Final Four: WCR F1 hybrids complete phase 1 trials

Update from the East Africa Breeding Hub

Tasting a new variety for the very first time

Yemeni coffee—how genetically diverse is it?

Study: All Arabica derived from a single ancestral plant

When it comes to coffee leaf rust, is shade good or bad for coffee?

Hybrid harvest

F1 Hybrids Explainer

World Coffee Research breeds coffee for the future

A new Arabusta for the 21st century

Speeding up genetic progress

A new African coffee breeding hub in Rwanda

Coping with 32°

Two new groups of F1 hybrid crosses in 2017/2018!

Experimental F1 hybrids in the field

Breeding program milestones for 2015