The 10 Best Coffee Brands Of Puerto Rico That You Must Try Today!

This article is dedicated to the mild, smooth and delicious coffee brands of Puerto Rico that are an absolute must-try coffee for every bona fide coffee lover.

Once upon a time, in a coffee kingdom far, far away, Puerto Rico was a coffee cultivating power house. Thankfully, today they are rediscovering their Midas touch for growing and roasting great coffee.

What this means for you and I as coffee enthusiasts is getting to try great coffee before it becomes trendy.

…And before the price skyrockets as demand increases.

Keep reading as I dig down and talk about some of the very best coffee brands of Puerto Rico.

Why is Puerto Rican Coffee So Good?

The reason Puerto Rican coffee is its rather tasty flavor profile. It is known for its caramel notes and chocolate tones. The notes of chocolate come through a great after-taste. The flavor profiles change slightly to more citrus and nutty flavors when you move across the regions of the Island nation.

You can expect a sweet, strong and smooth coffee that has a reduced acidity while being highly caffeinated, full-bodied and rich in flavor. Since the acid in coffee can give you unwanted headaches and an upset stomach, the low acidity is much appreciated by many coffee fans.

Read: Puerto Rico Blonde Coffee

The Top 10 Must Try Coffee Brands Of Puerto Rico!

The following are our top suggestions for must-try Puerto Rican coffee brands that are delicious, taste and make a very enjoyable and almost exotic coffee.

#1 Café Lareno – The Best Overall, Our Top Pick

Whole Bean Or Pre-Ground: Ground.

Roast profile: Both Light Roast and Dark Roast.

Certifications: Certified Organic.

Flavor Notes: Caramel and chocolate.

Grown at an altitude of 3,900 feet (1,200 meters) in the mountains of Lares, café Lareno started out in 1989 with only a 35 pound (16 kg) coffee roaster that was used to get their coffee beans ready for selling to the public.

Fast forwarding a few decades, Café Lareno still has that family-owned and family-run ambience to them. Today, many decades later, they still do everything by hand from start to finish, inc planting, harvesting, drying of the beans as well as the roasting and packaging of their coffee beans.

It is this attention to detail and the hands-on approach that sets them apart from all other Puerto Rican coffee brands. It makes a big difference. This is perhaps why and how they have produced such an approachable coffee that is free from coffee snobbery of all sorts and brings out the caramel and chocolate notes and a very mild acidity with little to no bitterness.

By far, the best place to buy this coffee is from their on-site Café Loreno coffee shop. If you are not in the area, you can check out all the regular places to buy them online.

#2 Alto Grande – Runner Up!

Whole Bean Or Pre-Ground: Whole Bean.

Roast profile: Medium Roast.

Certifications: None.

Flavor Notes: Chocolate, sweet with a strong pointed aroma.

Hacienda Alto Grande has been cultivating coffee since 1839. A very cool coffee fact regarding this coffee is it was exported to the Vatican and the Courts Of Europe, making it the coffee choice of Popes and Kings of the day.

Puerto Rican nationals consider Alto Grande to be a premium, high-end ultra-high quality coffee that is served in top gourmet coffee shops and rather fancy restaurants.

The flavor is a very delicate chocolate that exudes an exotic and sweet aroma that gives you a feeling of being on a tropical Caribbean island.

Alto Grande, as the name indicates, is grown at an elevation that is higher than other coffee beans on the island and is 100% Arabica. Due to the altitude and limited number of trees, the coffee farm can only produce a limited amount of beans and thus supply is limited – always.

If you see them available, you need to act fast if you want to try them…or wait a year!

#3 Yaucono – The Best Budget Puerto Rican Coffee

Whole Bean Or Ground: Ground.

Roast Profile: Medium Roast.

Certifications: None.

Flavor Notes: Rich, smooth and well-balanced.

Yaucono is a thriving and popular coffee company and is one of the biggest coffee roasters in Puerto Rico and continued to do very well even when the coffee industry on the island went into decline. Many Puerto Ricans claim that Yaucono has an unbeatable flavor.

It is a very easy, mild coffee that is neither bitter nor acidic and has a very nice and subtle hint of chocolate and heavy caffeine jolt.

Understandably the preferred coffee of Island natives and expatriates who enjoy it as an espresso or with a dash of steamed milk or a hint of cinnamon.

#4 Café Don Ruiz – Best Gourmet Coffee

Whole Bean Or Ground: Ground Or Whole Bean.

Roast Profile: Medium-Dark Roast

Certifications: None.

Flavor Notes: Fruity, citric and sweet with chocolate notes.

Café Don Ruiz is a fourth-generation coffee company located high in the Yaco mountains with a specialty in gourmet coffee. All their coffee is hand, sorted, hand-picked and single harvest and then roasted in the famous Cuartel de Ballajá  in San Juan. It is there where it is roasted, ground and served in their charming coffee shop. The grounds that are not used in their coffee shop are packaged and sold to the public.

If you are ever in Puerto Rico this coffee shop is one place to stop by and enjoy a cup and perhaps even get a bag or two.

#5 Di Laris – The Best Kosher Coffee

Whole Bean Or Ground: Ground.

Roast Profile: Medium-Dark Roast.

Certifications: Kosher.

Flavor Notes: Bold, smooth and full-bodied.

Most certainly worth mentioning is the great coffee fact that Café Di Laris is the very first fully certified Kosher coffee brand in Puerto Rico.

Every single coffee bean is sun dried and then water processed prior to being roasted to a medium dark roast profile. The natural drying process of the 100% Arabica beans used gives them a fruitier and sweeter taste than the other popular Puerto Rican coffee brands.

If you are a coffee lover that enjoys naturally processed coffee beans from Ethiopia, you will enjoy Café Di Laris.

#6 Café Rico

Whole Bean Or Ground: Ground.

Roast Profile: Medium-Dark Roast.

Certifications: None.

Flavor Notes: Strong, smooth and vibrantly aromatic.

This ground Puerto Rican coffee produces a very smooth coffee with no bitterness and a polite and medium body. The standard grind size is very fine and not at all suitable for a lot of coffee drinks. If you love moka pot coffee, espresso, Turkish coffee, or other coffee drinks that need a very fine grind.

#7 Café Crema

Whole Bean Or Ground: Ground.

Roast Profile: Medium Roast.

Certifications: None.

Flavor Notes: Smooth, creamy, and consistent.

This is a 100% Arabica coffee from Puerto Rico is located in Ponce and crafts a tasty, full flavored coffee with a creamy and consistent texture and flavor that makes for great morning coffee that is low in acidity and little bitterness. It goes perfectly with a morning or early evening pastry.

#8 Café Salome

Whole Bean Or Ground: Ground.

Roast Profile: Medium.

Certifications: None.

Flavor Notes: Fruity, sweet and has a low and pleasant acidity.

Café Salome is a 100% Arabica-Caracolillo coffee that is handpicked and naturally processed in their 100 acre plantation in the North-Central region of Puerto Rico. The Caracolillo Arabica coffee tree is chosen due to its superior quality and better tasting beans.

The direct sunlight and rainwater provide the coffee beans with a succinct ripe, fruity taste that has a pleasant acidity and sweet taste. All their beans are picked, processed and roasted on the same day, ensuring the maximum possible freshness.

#9 El Coqui

Whole Bean Or Pre-Ground: Ground or Whole Bean

Roast profile: Medium

Certifications: None.

Flavor Notes: Fragrant, Strong but sweet with notes of roasted nuts and chocolate.

El Coqui is a 100% Puerto Rican Coffee that is cultivated in the San Sebastián area of the island nation by the Rodriguez family who grow, harvest, roast and sell their coffee to the public for over 20 years.

The coffee is sweet, fragrant, rich with a mild acidity with a very nice aftertaste of nuts and chocolate. It is a very smooth and well-rounded coffee.

#10 Café de Oro – The Best Dark Roast

Whole Bean Or Pre-Ground: Ground.

Roast profile: Dark Roast

Certifications: None.

Flavor Notes: Caramel and chocolate, very smooth.

If you like coffee that is bold, rich and with tones of chocolate and caramel with a flavor that is not bitter or acidic. It is a great choice if you love to drink your coffee black. The bittersweet chocolate and hints of caramel sweetness add to a certain natural sweetness, meaning you do not need to add sugar.

#11 Volcanica Coffee Hacienda San Pedro – The Best Non-Puerto Rican Brand

Whole Bean Or Pre-Ground: Ground And Whole Bean.

Roast profile: Medium

Certifications: Kosher and Direct Trade.

Flavor Notes: Spicy, chocolate and rich tasting.

An extra and special place has been added to this top 10 for a very tasty coffee grown on volcanic soil. Volcanica is a well known brand that focuses on great Volcanic coffee from across the world. Since they are not a Puerto Rican brand I’ve edged them out of the top 10 list.

The beans are sourced from the family-owned and operated coffee farm in the mountainous town Jayuya, Hacienda San Pedro, a coffee farm that has over 100 years of history.

Volcanica Coffee Hacienda San Pedro has a typical and classic flavor profile that you would associate with Puerto Rico with chocolate notes and a distinctive caramel sweetness and hints of aromatic spices.

How To Make Puerto Rican Coffee The Puerto Rican Way!

Puerto Ricans love a well-made café con leche, which to you and I is a latte. The starting point of making an authentic Puerto Rican coffee is to select one of the eleven beans listed above.

For each cup of coffee that you are going to make measure one cup of water. At a medium heat, heat up your water to the simmering point. While it is simmering, measure the amount of coffee that you want to use and bring your saucepan of simmering water off your cooker, let it cool for 15 to 20 seconds and then add your coffee grounds and stir well.

One heaped tablespoon of pre-ground coffee per cup of coffee that you are making is enough.

Stir well and bring your water and coffee mix back to the simmering point; do not let it boil. Stir for about a minute. Pay attention and ensure that you do not take your water to the boiling point.

Turn off the heat and allow your coffee to brew for a minute, stirring it only once or twice.

Now strain your coffee using a coffee sock, which you can buy online or at any popular Latino specialty supermarket or store.

If you like your coffee black, you can pour it directly and enjoy. If you want to proceed to make a café con leche Puerto Rican style, fill your strained coffee back into your saucepan and bring the heat to just below the point of simmering.

Add approximately quarter of a cup of milk per cup of coffee that you are making and a teaspoon of sugar and stir your coffee with milk until all the sugar has dissolved.

Heat your milk to the point that it begins to foam, add your coffee to the simmering milk and bring it to a point that is just below the simmering point. Now pour your ready-made coffee into your coffee mug and enjoy one of the most popular cups of coffee, Puerto Rican style.

Frequently Asked Questions About Coffee Brands Of Puerto Rico

What Is The Most Popular Coffee In Puerto Rico?

The most popular coffee drinks in Puerto Rico are cortadito, which is a little cortado, a popular Spanish drink that is an espresso with a dash of steamed milk. Pocillo, which is the local Puerto Rican word for espresso, and Café Con Leche, the Spanish word for latte.

Which Coffee Is Puerto Rican?

There are a lot of very good Puerto Rican coffee brands that make great coffee and are on par with any coffee brand from any other nation. Café Yaucono and Alto Grande are the two most recognized brands in the island nation. Many consider Café Yaucono to be Puerto Rico’s #1 coffee.

Does Puerto Rico Have The Best Coffee?

Whether or not Puerto Rico has the best coffee or not is something that is entirely subjective and based on opinion. One thing for sure is the investment that coffee companies have been making in Puerto Rico’s coffee industry is paying off. Quite rightfully, Puerto Rican coffee is emerging as one of the hip, trendy and tastiest coffee beans in the world.

A great deal of this comes down to highly skilled and talented Puerto Rico coffee roasters that really know their local beans and how to get the best out of them.

Does Puerto Rico Make coffee?

Yes, Puerto Rico produces approximately 10 million pounds (4.5 Million Kilos) per year. Coffee is mostly grown near Jayuya, a town in the interior mountains.

Is Bustelo Coffee From Puerto Rico?

No, Bustelo coffee is a Cuban-style of coffee which is very popular amongst the Latino community in the United States, particularly popular in New York City. It is enjoyed by Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and of course Cubans more than other Latinos and people from the Caribbean region.

What Makes Puerto Rican Coffee So Good?

The flavor profile and tasting notes of Puerto Rican coffee is what makes it so good. It is sweet, smooth and strong. It is full-bodied, rich and packs a caffeine kick yet is very easy to drink thanks to the low acidity and tasty tones of caramel and chocolate.

Is Coffee Popular In Puerto Rico?

Yes, coffee is popular in Puerto Rico, due to the coffee industry and the prohibition on exports the most popular coffee on the island is Puerto Rican coffee.

Why Is Coffee So Expensive In Puerto Rico?

Coffee is expensive in Puerto Rico due to the high operational costs and high labor costs. Also, the climate and the island being prone to hurricanes which can damage the crops and cause a disruption to their production.

Frappé-Ing It All Up – Coffee Brands Of Puerto Rico

It is good to get to know the coffee brands of Puerto Rico, and if you can, get your hands on it early before it goes main stream and is loved by the masses and those that really enjoy specialty coffee. The re-emergence of coffee from this part of the world is great as it has historically been known for high quality tasty coffee that was quite literally the choice of popes and kings!

Puerto Rican coffee might not be up there (yet) alongside Ethiopian, Colombian or Sumatran coffee but if production continues it is only a matter of time – they have the quality.

If you have tried one of the Coffee Brands Of Puerto Rico let us know your thoughts – did you enjoy it?

Join our fun and friendly coffee community on Facebook/Meta and tell us what your favorite Puerto Rican coffee is.

Derek Marshall

Derek Marshall, a certified barista by the Specialty Coffee Association possesses over two decades of experience in specialty coffee shops. He holds professional certifications for coffee brewing and barista skills. Derek is also an author with authoritative books covering various coffee topics including specialty coffee, sustainability and coffee, coffee brewing, coffee recipes, coffee cocktails and books focusing on Brazilian coffee, Vietnamese coffee, Indonesian coffee and Malaysian coffee. As a barista for over two decades, Derek Marshall has worked in specialty coffee shops across the United Kingdom, Spain, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. His expertise extends to the distinct coffee cultures, specialty beverages, and brewing techniques of each nation. Functioning as a coffee consultant, Derek charges US$50 per hour. To learn more about Derek Marshall and Latte Love Brew, visit his About Me Page. For coffee inquiries, contact him at +34-639-410-375 or Derek@LatteLoveBrew.com, mentioning your name and location