Coffee at it's Finest in Costa Rica

It's Saturday which makes me think of sitting around with some fresh brewed coffee. Are you a coffee drinker? Have you tried coffee from Costa Rica? MMMM! It's good!

We've travelled a lot and I have to admit that one of the tests I use to determine if I like a place is the coffee. I was really looking forward to the coffee in Rome, but because it's so hard to get used to standing up and "gulping" down your coffee so the next person can order at the bar that I wasn't thrilled with the experience. Funny thing is one of the best cups of coffee I've ever had was in the hotel lobby of the Radisson in Helsinki, Finland. Wow! I'm not sure what made it so great but Patrick agrees with me. We were only in Helsinki for a day (on our way to St Petersburg) but we bought some coffee in the airport on the way home and that was tops too!

It's also good to remember that the best places for coffee tend to be those where it is actually grown. Costa Rica has several growing areas near their volcanoes. I still haven't found any of their coffee bad. Even the cheap stuff. In the Central Market there is a "stall" called Moka that sells about four or five different varieties of coffee. They scoop it out of bins and bag it while you watch. I've tried all but the shade grown and even the one they sell for 2400 colones a kilo (less than $5 for 2.2lbs) is really good.

Don't get sucked into buying Cafe Britt coffee while in Costa Rica. Yes, it is good and I wouldn't turn down a cup, but some of the other companies are just as good if not better. They just aren't marketed as well. Cafe Britt is pushed into the face of the tourist and has several gift shops at the airport so tourists are forced to buy Cafe Britt if they didn't buy coffee elsewhere before leaving the country.

Anyway, time to go enjoy my cup of joe.
Cafe Moka, Robert's (Finland), Cafe Leyenda chocolate cappuccino (excellent flavored coffee found in grocery stores in Costa Rica)