Costa Rica owes its infrastructure and even many cultural monuments to coffee cultivation. From 1846 to 1890, coffee was the only export good of the Central American country. Wet processing was introduced at this time and by the beginning of the 20th century, 200 Washing Stations were already in operation. With the cultivation of coffee, the growing population also spread to the rural regions of the country. Farmers were looking for new agricultural land that was also suitable for growing coffee and reached geographic boundaries. 

In general, coffee is mostly grown by small farmers who sell their coffee cherries to washing stations for further processing. However, over the last couple of years, many small farmers built their own Micromills and work directly with exporters. In the harvest year 2017/18, a total of 1.6 million 60kg bags of green coffee were produced in Costa Rica, out of which more than 60% were exported.