With Love From Costa Rica

23/03/2022

Our coffee comes from altitudes so high, you practically have to use ziplines. 😉 LAST PIC FOR NOW—we're just so excited to have brought this baby to market!
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(My other favorite joke is the whole "Zero SPF" line, muahahahahaha. Get it? Because it's sun-dried? 🤓 Ho, ho, ho! I’ll be here all week, folks.)
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Look for our new "cute-ass travel-perfect packs" of coffee, made with love at a small, sustainable farm here in Costa Rica, for you to bring back as a *killer* gift. SO AUTHENTIC, THEY WILL THINK YOU WENT TO THE DAMN FARM ITSELF. (Last-minute airport gift who?!?!?!?!)
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Make 'em think you were thinkin' of the the wholeeeee time. 😈
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Pick one up at Emilio's Miniprice Supermarket when you're in Quepos, or other supermarkets and gift shops in the area! If you can't find 'em, DM us. We'll hook you up direct!
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☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️
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23/03/2022

Seriously though. Did you hear us SCREAMING about our new brand of gift-worthy coffee? We put it in an 8 oz. "adorable-ass travel-friendly bag" (I should put that on the website, right?), intentionally so you can bring back gifts for your mom, your sister, and Ed, your annoying boss who you need to suck up to, without losing valuable space in your suitcase. These bags were made to fit in yo' shoes! (No, really. They're suitcase friendly by design. 🔥)
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Look for it at Emilio's Miniprice Supermarket in Quepos (definitely go there), and in other supermarkets & gift shops in Quepos & Manuel Antonio. (If you can't find it, DM us. We'll hook you up direct! ✨)
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23/03/2022

OUR NEW COFFEE BRAND IS IN STORES! OUR NEW COFFEE BRAND IS IN STORES! (Swipe for sweet, sweet evidence.) If you're coming to the Quepos / Manuel Antonio area, look 👏🏻 for 👏🏻 it 👏🏻 on 👏🏻 the 👏🏻 shelf 👏🏻. (And if you can't find it, DM us.) We manufactured this as a special gift for visitors, because even though Costa Rica has some of the best coffee in the world??? It was either exported out OR the packaging looked 🧀. We always wanted to bring back damn good coffee as a gift to our family, our boss, our friends, but nothing ever felt thoughtful / authentic / hand-crafted / small-batch enough. It was either chintzy or mass-produced, with shiny, cheap packaging that never did it justice. So, we partnered with a small farm in Tarrazú, blind tasted a bunch of coffee, fell in LOVE with this one (it's the most exclusive they have; the process is called "red honey," which makes it a little more sweet without cream & sugar!), called up our favorite designer in the United States, partnered with in Wisconsin to print our bags, shipped 'em to Costa Rica, sent 'em to the farm to be filled and sealed—and now they've been delivered fresh to select local supermarkets here in town! Hoooorayyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!! What a fun time we're having. We hope you love this coffee as much as we do! 💓
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05/03/2022

Picked up our first batch of coffee in Tarrazu, Costa Rica this morning!!!! Can you believe this?! Who am I????????? What did I do here? Did we really find the best-tasting coffee in all of Costa Rica (we blind tested a million), call up the farmer, have a gorgeous bag designed, register a corporation in Central America, and MAKE OUR OWN LINE OF COFFEE?
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Hell yeah, we did. C’s handling operations and killing it. 😍
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I’m a huge fan of starting businesses to solve your own problems, and this was a problem that I had experienced tons of times in Costa Rica: for having some of the best coffee in the world, most of it looks cringe on the shelf. Alllll of the product packaging looks cheap, plastic-y, designed with clip art in 1997, and/or mass-produced. Nothing was artisanal, local, small-batch, and sustainable, like a beautiful gift I’d want to bring home to someone. So, we fixed it. 🤷‍♀️
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Meet coffee! ☕️
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Will be running some tests locally in the grocery store in Costa Rica and then if all goes according to plan, we’ll get our shipping game on. What do you think, do we need a coffee liqueur next? 😝

19/01/2022

Important note! 🚗Most car rental agencies here in Costa Rica will place a $1,000 USD hold on your credit card when you rent a car—and that is, of course, in addition to the actual cost of the rental. So just make sure that you've got that much available on your card. (I remember what it's like to be young, ***ahem***. 😂) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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P.S. Sometimes they'll only hold $500, but that's rare. So check with the company first, like the good little egg that you are! 🐣

19/01/2022

Okay so THIS FLUCTUATES, of course—right now it's 637 colones to the dollar—but this is helpful mental shorthand if you are TOTALLY lost and need to calculate something on the fly. 🧐If 500 colones ≅ $1 USD, then 1,000 colones ≅ $2 USD, and 5,000 colones ≅ $10 USD, and 10,000 colones ≅ $20 USD. So you're essentially doubling the number and turning it into dollars. 💵Therefore, 25,000 colones ≅ $50 USD, and 50,000 colones ≅ $100 USD. See how easy? (But for more precise figures, definitely use Google—OUR ALMIGHTY GOD.)

19/01/2022

I know you think it's going to be like the Jersey shore and get chilly at night, but TRUST ME: jeans + humidity = 🥵Lighten up your suitcase and ditch the jeans & sweatshirts entirely. (But keep the rain jacket if you're going to volcanoes. 🌋)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

28/03/2021

You might be like, grand, I'll just take an Uber to my hotel once I land in —BUT YOUR PLANS WOULD BE DRAMATICALLY FOILED, MY FRIEND. You see, Uber 𝒹𝑜𝑒𝓈 exist in Costa Rica. (Sadly, Lyft does not.) However, Costa Rican law prevents Ubers from doing pick-ups at the airport—cue dark and dramatic "dun, dun, dunnnnnn." So that cute little rideshare isn't as cute when it's not legal. 🤷‍♀️ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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What's a well-meaning tourist (who is probably starving and exhausted and can only day-dream about an ice-cold beer) to do?! Just grab an official taxi from the airport, you adventurer, you! 🚕 There's a little stand once you've passed by customs. They're super safe. They're super honest. And they're bright orange, which will make you feel 𝑒𝓍𝒶𝒸𝓉𝓁𝓎 like you're in a Tropicana commercial. And honestly, how else would you want to start your vacation?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Know you want to visit Costa Rica but not sure where to begin? 🤔 Take our quiz: 𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝘾𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙖 𝙍𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝘽𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝘼𝙧𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙪?? 🏖 It'll help you narrow down your choices from ALL THE BEACHES to the one that's best for you, depending on what you like to do, what you want to see, how bug-tolerant you are 💀 (that's a thing!) and how much time you've got. Link in bio, of course! ☝️

26/03/2021

26/02/2021

Dear Tourists: Top secret insider tip ‼️ Buy a mini bottle of baby powder and bring it with you to the beaches here in . Costa Rican sand is stickier than 99% of the sand you're used to around the world, which means that a thick layer of it will stick like glue to your arms, your legs, your feet, your groin (congratulations to me for using the word "groin" on Instagram) once you're wet—and it hilariously doesn't just rinse off with water. The secret to getting it off? Babbbyyyy powderrrrr! Huge h/t to for teaching me this trick that I TOTALLY NEVER THOUGHT OF AND SUFFERED FOR 10 YEARS WITHOUT IT. Don't make my mistakes, friends. Friends don't let friends go to the beach without baby powder. And also baby beers, those are delicious.
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P.S. Have you taken our quiz yet? It's called, "Which Costa Rican Beach Are You?" 🏖 and you can find it in the link in our bio!
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26/02/2021

Dear Tourists: English is widely spoken in ! 🗣 Given that tourism is the economic backbone of the country, many locals speak some degree of English—or at the very least can understand you to some degree—so don't worry about not being understood when you go to purchase that bottle of wine after happy hour. (Unless happy hour was 2x1 and you were there for three hours. 😋)
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As a general rule, locations along the coast will speak more English than others, because that's where most tourism is. On the other hand, if you're hoping to learn a little Spanish? This is one of the best places to do it! Costa Ricans enunciate their words and speak more slowly than other Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America—so it's a win, win, really. Especially once you learn the word "hipopotámo." (Why is there no emoji for that? RUDE.)
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With Love,

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P.S. Have you taken our quiz yet? It's called, "Which Costa Rican Beach Are You?" 🏖 and you can find it in the link in our bio!
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🇨🇷

26/02/2021

Dear Tourists: Hell yes, you can drink the water here. 💦 Now, any questions about mojitos?

With Love,


P.S. Have you taken our quiz yet? It's called, "Which Costa Rican Beach Are You?" 🏖 and you can find it in the link in our bio!

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14/02/2021

Thank 𝓋𝑜𝒹𝓀𝒶 traveler's cheque's are antiquated, now, because did any of us really know how to get those, anyway??? 🧐

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Take the quiz: Which Costa Rican Beach Are You?!
www.withlovefromcostarica.com/quiz
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🇨🇷

13/02/2021

Because there's nothing like lugging a hairdryer from England all the way to Central America only to discover you could have packed a decent bottle of wine in there, instead. 🤷‍♀️

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Take the quiz: Which Costa Rican Beach Are You?
www.withlovefromcostarica.com/quiz

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13/02/2021

Dear Tourist 💌,

One of the first questions you'll have when planning your trip to is surely: which beach is the best? Where should I go? Pacific or Caribbean? There are so many beaaaacccchhhheeeessss! Welp, we've got the answer. 💃

Take our super fun quiz, "Which Costa Rican Beach Are You?" and find out which beach ~you'll~ fall madly in love with. Party town? Peace & quiet? Immersed in nature? Or more modern & happenin'? Costa Rica has got it all—see which one is your match! 👇

www.withlovefromcostarica.com/quiz