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San José · Costa Rica

Cafeoteca

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Overview

Cafeoteca is a specialty coffee café, roastery, and gallery in San José's Barrio Escalante, set inside a converted 1950s Art Deco home and dedicated 100% to Costa Rican coffee. The shop sources from 15 single-estate, micro-lot family farms across all eight Costa Rican coffee-producing regions, roasts in-house weekly under two roaster brands (Café Boleto being one), and serves up to 25 different lots that customers can taste through a brewing flight including V60, Chemex, AeroPress, syphon, chorreador (the Costa Rican wood-and-cloth filter), and cold brew. In 2014 — when the La Mesa farm won the Costa Rica Cup of Excellence competition — Cafeoteca's Café Boleto became the first Costa Rican roaster to purchase a winning lot at auction (lots that almost always go to international buyers), and sold single servings of the resulting coffee for 3,000 colones (~$6 USD), an early landmark for domestic specialty coffee access in the country.

Known for

  • Located in San José's Barrio Escalante in a 1950s Art Deco home
  • 100% Costa Rican coffee — 25 lots across all 8 producing regions
  • First Costa Rican roaster to buy a Cup of Excellence-winning lot at auction (La Mesa, 2014)
  • Operates two roasting brands: Café Boleto + Cafeoteca
  • Multi-method brew bar including V60, Chemex, AeroPress, syphon, chorreador, cold brew

Why it matters

Cafeoteca was a turning point in Costa Rica's domestic specialty coffee market. By becoming the first Costa Rican roaster to buy a Cup of Excellence-winning lot at auction in 2014, the project broke a long-standing pattern in which the country's best coffee shipped out untasted by Costa Ricans themselves. The shop's 25-lot menu organized by producing region is also one of the best vehicles in Latin America for tasting an entire country's coffee terroir in one sitting, making it the obvious second-of-country entry alongside Café Britt.

Production

destoning
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head roaster
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color sorting
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roaster machine
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filter equipment
V60, Chemex, AeroPress, syphon, chorreador, cold brew, BUNN grinder
cupping frequency
Weekly cuppings
roastery location
San José, Costa Rica (Barrio Escalante)
espresso equipment
Astoria grinder + Rancilio Epoca semi-automatic
annual volume tonnes
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Café

Calle 31, Barrio Escalante, San José

Recognitions

  • First Costa Rican roaster to buy a Cup of Excellence-winning lot (La Mesa, 2014)

Sources

More roasters