Costa Rica is another country that began its work with CQI during the CADR program in 2006. During this program, CQI helped with activities such as water quality evaluation, barista training and competition, product development, and other similar training to help Costa Rica thrive in the specialty coffee sector. At that time, Costa Rica was already well organized through ICAFE and the Costa Rica Specialty Coffee Association. Several exporters became involved in selecting specialty lots and used cupping as a tool to differentiate between different qualities.
Barista training enabled the growth of in country consumption and greater exposure of tourists to the fine coffees. Costa Rica has a large tourist industry, capable business people, and differentiated regions known to market, which makes it a small but very capable and influential coffee region.
Costa Rica continues to be an industry leader with a strong internally funded Q program and continued close ties with CQI. They have been a specialty coffee producer for years and the total volume of coffee is over 70% specialty
