Cocoa cultivated in Costa Rica, especially in the northern Upala region bordering with Nicaragua, continues to be one of the best in the world.

“There are four aspects that help to obtain a superior quality of chocolate. Among them, the correct genetics – and in Costa Rica there are excellent varieties – and also the post-harvest process, roasting, and conching. We have made notable progress in post-harvest treatment, which allows greater control of fermentation and drying, a meticulous process that allows us to reach the maximum flavor potential,” said Juan Pablo Büchert, president of the Costa Rican Chamber of Fine Cacao.

Costa Rican cacao is used by the most refined artisans in the world to produce top notch chocolates that have received many awards in recent years. Recently, according to Büchert, Costa Rican cacao was admitted for the fourth time in the Cocoa Excellence Program’s list of the world’s top 50.

There are approximately 3,400 cacao growers in Costa Rica. In Upala, over one-fifth of the cacao farmers are women and on average, growers cultivate an area of ​​approximately 1.9 hectares. The vast majority of growers are interested in focusing solely on cacao, according to data from the chamber and from the National Cocoa Program of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock.

According to Büchert’s research, it is estimated that the cacao varieties currently being grown in Upala are hybrids introduced from Nicaragua which have received successive introductions of genetic material including recent clones developed by the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (Costa Rica’s Tropical Agronomy Research and Investigation Center, or CATIE).

Conching is one of the most important processes in producing cacao, and involves techniques to redistribute the flavorful substances in the dry cocoa into the fat phase. Air flowing through a conche removes some unwanted acetic, propionic, and butyric acids from the chocolate and reduces moisture.

Conching and other good post-harvest practices are keys to Costa Rica’s success in the world cacao market.