Cafe Britt

1. Been to Costa Rica?
2. Love coffee?
3. Like chocolate-covered coffee beans?

If you answered yes to at least TWO of the above questions, then you know exactly where this is going.....

Cafe Britt. Praise the Lord for the person who invented this place.

Café Britt was founded in 1985 as the first gourmet coffee roaster in Costa Rica. Before Café Britt, it was virtually impossible to find a memorable cup of coffee in the country. It seemed all the truly exquisite Costa Rican coffee was being hidden away. This, of course, was not true. The simple fact was all the best coffee was being exported.

It was here we had the opportunity to pioneer great change and introduce gourmet quality roasted coffee to Costa Rica. As exporters ourselves, we were able to see the problem and we knew we could solve it; by reserving and roasting some of this fine Costa Rican coffee. We had all the ingredients for success: access to perfect coffee from the country’s best plantations, the finest mills, the roasters, and the obsession with quality. We combined all our resources and the result was Café Britt, Costa Rica’s most remarkable coffee.

We were thrilled to discover this hidden gem and share Costa Rica's heritage with the world. Our enthusiasm for culture, nature and great flavors went beyond borders. In 2005, we headed south to Peru and explored this country's highlands for the best coffees and colorful artful crafts that transpire this nation’s fabulous legacy. Warmer winds blew in 2006 with our expansion to the Curaçao and The Caribbean where we parachuted our creative team into this fun friendly culture to create a line of products that truly reveal the islands’ flair. The vast diversity of Chile’s natural scenes and the warmth of its people blew us away… and we just had to become part of it. Café Britt Chile was created in 2007. With Miami themes and a highly skilled, friendly staff, we were ready to take on the challenge of this iconic city, known as the "Crossroads of the Americas." Our first shop opened Sept 26, 2008 in Concourse D at the Miami International Airport. (Cafe Britt story)


What a godsend, huh?


Anyway, when I purchased a travel guide to Costa Rica before coming I searched immediately for something about coffee or Cafe Britt. Lucky for me I discovered headquarters in Heredia, a suburb of San Jose but still a HUGE city, and I knew immediately that this would be somewhere I would be going.


Well, it took a while to go but KL and I decided last night that the time had come. Being complete coffee addicts, we knew that it was now or never. So this morning, KL, MIF, ES and I set out on a bus to San Jose (with some guidance from Claudia). We had to get off at the airport and hop on the Heredia bus and get off at the hospital in town, and then taxi to Britt. Well, we managed all of that, and I was sore afraid that we wouldn't be able to join on the 11 AM tour (we arrived promptly at 11:15!). The kind people in the welcome booth offered to let us join the tour which had apparently just started, so we happily accepted and trotted off to the rear of the tour. Our guides were just adorable. They gave the tour in Spanish and in English. It was funny how they switched back and forth. They were absolutely hilarious!

The tour consisted of explanations of how coffee is grown, the climate it is grown in, how it is tested all along the way...basically the ENTIRE process of coffee from its initial planting to its packaging to be sold to addicts like me!