Costa Rica began growing coffee in 1779 on the Meseta Central. In the mid-1800s painted oxcarts hauled it over the mountains to the Pacific port of Puntarenas, a trip of about two weeks.
Coffee was sold to Europe, so a Caribbean route mattered. Work on a railway to Limón started in 1871, and the first through train ran from Limón to San José on 7 December 1890. About 4,000 men are estimated to have died building the first 25 miles. Bananas planted to feed the workers later led to the United Fruit Company.
Coffee also paid for culture. A tax on coffee exports funded the National Theatre in San José, which opened on 21 October 1897. Inside hangs Aleardo Villa's mural 'Allegory of Coffee and Bananas'.
At home, many Costa Ricans brew with a chorreador. It is a wooden stand that holds a cotton bag called a bolsita.
Chorreador · chorreador de café
How it's made. A cup or pot sits under a wooden stand. Fine to medium-fine coffee goes into a dry cotton bag (bolsita) held open by a wire or wooden rim, and boiling water is poured slowly over it. The bag is rinsed after use and never washed with soap.1,2
How it's served. Used daily in Costa Rican homes and seen as a symbol of tradition; often given as a gift.
What time is taking away
Oxcart coffee haulage and painted carts
Oxcarts with spokeless wheels carried coffee to Puntarenas in the mid-1800s. Painting the carts began in the early 1900s, with patterns that showed a driver's home region. UNESCO inscribed the tradition in 2008.4
The coffee railway to Limón
Built to carry coffee to the Caribbean, the line opened in 1890. An earthquake on 22 April 1991 badly damaged it, the tracks were never repaired, and service ended.5
What the record says
- Coffee production began in Costa Rica in 1779 on the Meseta Central.3
- Costa Rica first exported coffee to Chile in 1832, where it was re-bagged for England. A direct shipment to Britain followed in 1843.3
- In the mid-1800s oxcarts took about two weeks to haul coffee from the central valley to Puntarenas.4
- The first through train from Limón to San José ran on 7 December 1890, after nineteen years of construction.5
- Railway labourers were recruited from Jamaica, China and Italy, and about 4,000 men are estimated to have died on the first 25 miles.5
- President José Joaquín Rodríguez Zeledón taxed coffee, then the main export, to pay for the National Theatre.6
- The National Theatre opened on 21 October 1897 with Goethe's 'Faust'. Its mural 'Allegory of Coffee and Bananas' appears on the five colón note.6
- The chorreador's name comes from the Spanish verb chorrear, to drip or trickle.1
The Tico Times chorreador article is linked to a company that sells chorreadors, so it is used only for basic description. The age of the chorreador (claims of 200 years) is unverified and left out. Railway death tolls are estimates. A popular story that the theatre was built after the singer Adelina Patti skipped San José was not sourced and is left out.
- Chorreador · Wikipedia in the bibliography
- Experience Authentic Costa Rican Coffee with the Chorreador · The Tico Times (sponsored, linked to Cafe Tico), 2023 in the bibliography
- Coffee production in Costa Rica · Wikipedia in the bibliography
- Oxherding and oxcart traditions in Costa Rica · UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, 2008 in the bibliography
- The Story of Costa Rica's Famous Railroad to Limón · The Tico Times, 2026 in the bibliography
- National Theatre of Costa Rica · Wikipedia in the bibliography
