San Carlos

About San Carlos:

San Carlos is the third district of Tarrazú, a little under 59 square kilometres, and it touches the rest of the canton only on its eastern side, where it meets San Lorenzo. Every other boundary belongs to someone else: León Cortés Castro to the north, Aserrí to the northwest, and the Puntarenas cantons of Parrita and Quepos to the southwest and south. The district was created in the 1940s, but its present outline dates from the 1960s, when Parrita became a canton of its own. Route 303 is the link to San Marcos, the canton seat, passing through San Lorenzo and Mata de Caña, and from it the roads branch out to Alto San Juan, Bajo San José, Jamaica, Quebrada Seca, San Jerónimo, San Josecito, Alto Chiral and Bajo Jénaro. On the north side, a road over the crest of the Pirrís dam crosses to Llano Bonito in León Cortés.

Coffee is what people here live on, and it sells as Café Tarrazú, the protected origin that covers Tarrazú, Dota and León Cortés. The district has been tied to CoopeTarrazú from the start: Carlos Abarca, a San Carlos farmer, was one of the growers who founded the cooperative in 1960, and today it runs a farm-supply store in the district, so fertiliser and tools do not mean a trip to San Marcos. Some families now process and export their own beans. At Alto San Juan, Diego Abarca Quirós, a fourth-generation grower who began with three hectares inherited from his father, runs a micromill whose lots are sold abroad, from plots between 1,400 and 1,650 metres. Rural tourism is the newer line of work, and it is still small.

The landmark is the Pirrís hydroelectric plant. ICE built it between 2001 and 2011 on the river of the same name, and its 113-metre dam is the second highest in the country, holding a reservoir of around 30 million cubic metres behind it. The head village sits at 1,545 metres, and the hamlets spread over ridges that fall away toward the Pacific side. Facing Parrita and Quepos, the view opens all the way to the coast when the haze lifts, and sellers of high farms and lots lead with it. The ground between the coffee blocks is uneven and often steep, with patches of forest kept around the springs.

Around 2,300 people live in San Carlos, after a decade, 2000 to 2011, in which the population barely moved. Children go to the Escuela San Carlos, and the Liceo Académico San Carlos de Tarrazú means teenagers can finish secondary school without commuting to San Marcos. The EBAIS clinic opens on Mondays and Wednesdays, while banks, the town hall and larger shops are all in San Marcos. Land mostly passes between local families, and outside buyers usually come for one of two things: a farm already in production, or a high piece of ground facing the coast.

Houses in San Carlos:

Homes here are modest family houses on their own lots, grouped around the head village on Route 303 or spread out among the hamlets. Offers run from small two-bedroom houses to larger family homes, most of them built by and for the families who live in them. Judge each one on its site: how the lot was cut into the hill, where the rainwater goes, and how the house is reached in October. Banks and bigger shops are a drive away in San Marcos, so factor in the trip.

Land and Lots in San Carlos:

Lots run from village plots of a few hundred square metres near Route 303 to larger parcels on the ridges, where the price follows the view and the access. A plot cut from a family farm is only buildable once the segregation is approved and the new parcel has its own plano catastrado, so ask to see both. Confirm that the parcel fronts a public road, not just a farm track that crosses a neighbour’s land. Before you talk numbers, get written confirmation that water can be supplied, because the municipality will not process a building permit without it.

Coffee Farms in San Carlos:

Farms here are rarely coffee alone. A typical holding mixes a few hectares in production with pasture, a block of forest around the springs and sometimes terraces suited to cabins; one recent offer covered 23 hectares, four of them in coffee and four in protected forest, with water, power and a public road to the gate. If you are looking at coffee farms for sale in San Carlos de Tarrazú, ask where the cherry is delivered, how old the plants are and which varieties are in the ground. Find out too whether the coffee has been sold as specialty lots or simply delivered to a mill, since that history shapes what the farm can earn.

FAQ:

• Is this the San Carlos near La Fortuna?

  No. That San Carlos is a large canton in Alajuela, in the northern lowlands, home to Ciudad Quesada and La Fortuna. This one is a highland district of Tarrazú, in San José province, with postal code 10503. Search for “San Carlos de Tarrazú” and check that the plano catastrado and every contract say Tarrazú.

• Can I buy land on the shore of the Pirrís reservoir or around a spring?

  You can buy the parcel, but not use all of it. The Forestry Law protects a 50-metre strip along the shore of reservoirs built by the State, a 100-metre radius around permanent springs and strips along rivers and streams, and on a farm with water, those zones can take up a good share of the area. Have them marked on the plan before you agree a price. Then check the registered owners, the area and any liens at the Registro Nacional (Registro Inmobiliario), and ask the Municipalidad de Tarrazú for the land-use certificate.

• Will coffee from a farm here count as Café Tarrazú?

  Yes. San Carlos lies inside the area of the Café Tarrazú denomination of origin, which only coffee grown in Tarrazú, Dota and León Cortés can carry. Most small growers deliver their harvest to a cooperative or a mill; a few process it themselves at their own micromill and sell to roasters abroad.

• What services are there in the district?

  There is a primary school and an academic secondary school, an EBAIS that opens two days a week and a CoopeTarrazú farm-supply store. For banks, the municipality and larger supermarkets, you drive to San Marcos de Tarrazú along Route 303.