Brunca (Pérez Zeledón and Coto Brus)

Brunca is Costa Rica’s southern coffee region, made up of Pérez Zeledón and Coto Brus. Much of its coffee grows at lower elevations, so the south is among the first places in the country to be picked, and it is mostly mild and sweet. But Pérez Zeledón is also the country’s second-biggest coffee canton, and its best honey-processed microlots have placed second in the Cup of Excellence.

The short version

• Southern Costa Rica: Pérez Zeledón and Coto Brus.
• 19,427 hectares between them in 2022.
• Pérez Zeledón: 12.4% of the national crop, second only to Tarrazú.
• The earliest harvest, from about August in the low south.
• Mild and sweet, with chocolate-rich prize honeys.

What does Brunca coffee taste like?

Mostly mild and sweet, the importer Royal New York says, with most of it grown at lower elevations. The region’s top microlots, often honey-processed, are richer. Coffee Review’s blind assessments:

Year	Coffee	Score	Notes
2019	Finca Vista, passion honey	93	Chocolate liqueur, lime zest, peach, strawberry, mint
2022	Rivense Las Moras, black honey	94	Raspberry, thyme, dark chocolate, wine barrel; viscous
2024	Don Senel, Pérez Zeledón	93	Baking chocolate, orange zest, coconut, apple blossom, nougat; syrupy
2025	Rivense La Guaca, passion honey	93	Dark chocolate, finger lime, lychee, almond, freesia

Source: Coffee Review.

In the Cup of Excellence, La Torre, a black-honey Geisha from Brunca, placed second in the honey and natural category in 2024 with 92.00. In 2026, El Cola Roja, a Geisha from Senel Campos Valverde in Pérez Zeledón, placed in both the honey and natural (10th, 88.78) and experimental (9th, 89.11) categories, the Alliance for Coffee Excellence reports. In 2022, a Pérez Zeledón farm, Los Toños, scored 90 with an anaerobic Millennium, La Nación reported.

Where and how is it grown?

Pérez Zeledón lies south of Los Santos in San José province, USDA says; Coto Brus is ICAFE’s other Brunca area. Royal New York says most of Brunca’s coffee grows at lower elevations than the famous central regions. That shows in the calendar: Costa Rica’s harvest is concentrated from November to February, but it starts around August in the lower areas of the south and can run until May in the highest areas, USDA reports.

How much coffee does Brunca grow?

Measure	Figure	Source
Pérez Zeledón area, 2018 → 2022	13,315 → 10,617 ha (−20.3%)	ICAFE, via USDA
Coto Brus area, 2018 → 2022	10,261 → 8,810 ha (−14.1%)	ICAFE, via USDA
Pérez Zeledón canton, 2024/25	12.4% of national production, second after Tarrazú	ICAFE, via USDA
Brunca’s share of the crop	About 20%	Royal New York

Both areas lost coffee land between 2018 and 2022, Pérez Zeledón faster than the national average of 11.9%. Together they still had 19,427 hectares in 2022, more than the West Valley’s 18,640.

Brunca and other Costa Rican origins

• Coffee in Costa Rica: the whole country, its regions and its history.
• Tarrazú (Los Santos): the region just to the north.
• West Valley: the microlot region of the Valle Occidental.