Coffee and Chocolate Tours

Costa Rica is world-famous for its great coffee, the Arabic coffee bean was brought to Costa Rica in the late 1700s and that was a new beginning to the Costa Rican economy. At that time coffee was expensive around the world and the Costa Rican government saw many opportunities to profit from production and exportation.

The absolute excellent conditions for coffee production in Costa Rica led to quick expansion of the industry. The cooler climate at between 3900 and 5600 ft. (1200-1700 m), the volcanic soil, which is slightly acidic and extremely fertile, give the coffee beans great conditions for growing.

Costa Rica’s coffee production was early on a great exportation income as especially countries in Europe started to buy the coffee. The money generated starting building the country’s economy and the railway system from the Atlantic as well as the National Theatre were products of the growing economy. Up until 1990 coffee was the single biggest income for Costa Rica when the coffee prices drastically fell internationally. It was then replaced by tourism as the main income.

That leads us into having you and your travel companions visiting Costa Rica having a good time and learning more about the country and its history and culture! We offer coffee and chocolate tours around Costa Rica and they are generally located in the mountain areas where the growing is superior.

Our Coffee and Chocolate tours generally consist of us beginning with one of our professional bilingual guides showing us a coffee tree and its way from a seed to when it's fully grown four years later and its first harvest. From there we get to follow the process of the picking to weighing, cleaning, drying, and finally roasting the coffee bean. Of course, we get to taste to wonderfully tasting coffee when it’s the end product.
Some tours also include a chocolate tour where we get a lesson on how the cacao bean is grown and cultivated before it’s dried and fermented and mixed into chocolate. It’s an interesting experience that is finished with a delightful chocolate tasting!

These tours are mainly available in San Jose, Arenal, and Monteverde but they can also be experienced in some parts of the Pacific coast and the Caribbean coast.