Turrialba

Turrialba is Costa Rica’s Caribbean-facing coffee region, on the slopes of the Turrialba volcano east of San José. It is wetter than the Pacific-facing regions such as Tarrazú, and it is home to Aquiares, the country’s largest coffee estate, which has grown coffee since 1890. It is also one of the regions losing coffee fastest.

The short version

• Eastern Costa Rica, on the slopes of Turrialba volcano.
• Wetter, with weather from the Caribbean rather than the Pacific.
• About 800–1,400 metres at Aquiares.
• Red fruit, chocolate and jasmine: 92–94 with Coffee Review.
• 3,386 hectares with Orosi in 2022, down 31% in four years.

What does Turrialba coffee taste like?

Fruity and chocolatey. Coffee Review’s blind assessments of recent Aquiares lots:

Year	Coffee	Score	Notes
2023	Aquiares Estate, Centroamericano, natural	93	Raspberry, magnolia, baking chocolate, honey, lemon verbena; brisk acidity; syrupy
2023	Turrialba Volcano, Aquiares, honey	94	Blackberry, brown sugar, dark chocolate, cedar, star jasmine; bright and juicy
2024	Aquiares Esperanza, anaerobic natural	92	Goji berry, baking chocolate, hazelnut, lime zest, fresh-cut fir

Source: Coffee Review. In the 2024 Cup of Excellence, a natural Centroamericano (H1) from Aquiares was among the national winners, with 87.42, the Alliance for Coffee Excellence reports. Back in 1998, Coffee Review found a coffee from Juan Viñas, a well-established Turrialba grower, unusually bright for its cupping.

Where and how is it grown?

Turrialba lies east of San José and, unlike Tarrazú and Tres Ríos, which get their weather from the Pacific, it faces the somewhat wetter Caribbean side of the country, Coffee Review notes. Its flagship is Aquiares:

Measure	Figure	Source
Founded	1890, by the British Lindo family	Cup of Excellence farm directory
Size	924 ha, 80% coffee and 20% forest	Cup of Excellence farm directory
Size	About 600 ha of shaded coffee and 200 ha of protected rainforest	Aquiares
Altitude	800–1,400 m	Cup of Excellence farm directory
Altitude	1,000–1,400 m	Mercanta
Community	A village of 1,800 people; 150 local employees	Cup of Excellence farm directory

The estate, 7 kilometres from the town of Turrialba, was once owned by former president José Figueres. More than 50,000 shade trees have been planted since 2003, and Aquiares holds Rainforest Alliance certification and says it was the first coffee farm to become carbon neutral. Costa Rica’s harvest is concentrated from November to February, USDA says.

How much coffee does Turrialba grow?

ICAFE counts Turrialba and Orosi as one region:

Year	Area	Source
2018	4,917 ha	ICAFE, via USDA
2022	3,386 ha (−31.1%)	ICAFE, via USDA

Only the small Northern Zone, Guanacaste, lost a larger share of its coffee land over those years. Nationally, area fell 11.9% as some less productive farmers cut back or left coffee, USDA says. The importer Royal New York describes Costa Rica’s smaller regions as mostly lower-grown, producing a sweet, simple coffee.

Turrialba and other Costa Rican origins

• Coffee in Costa Rica: the whole country, its regions and its history.
• Central Valley and Tres Ríos: where Costa Rican coffee began.
• Tarrazú (Los Santos): the largest region by area.