The cacao and coffee bean are two of Costa Rica’s top & tastiest exports – it’s no wonder why tours of local plantations are also one of Costa Rica’s most popular tourist activities!

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What Can You Expect on a Combo Tour?

If you sign up for a Costa Rican chocolate and coffee combination tour, you can expect a guided tour through the grounds, a walk-through of how the products are made, and samplings of both cacao and coffee at various stages of processing.

These walking tours typically run for a couple of hours, but the exact duration will depend on the company you choose to make your reservation with. Participants will have to walk on cleared paths in between stations, but no strenuous activities are involved.

If you know that you are scheduled for a hot day, be sure to bring water and a hat as most of the tour is hosted outdoors.

But first, coffee.

Your tour guide will explain the process of creating drinkable coffee in much more detail than I ever could, but here’s a general overview of what it takes to get you your morning brew:

Depending on the species, it can take a coffee plant three to four years before it presents fruit (the coffee bean) that farmers can harvest. The beans then get collected, sorted by weight, dried, and prepared for roasting. (The drying process can take up to a couple of weeks!)

The roast is what determines the type of coffee you get. The longer the roast, the darker the brew. A “light roast” takes about eight minutes, while the darkest they offer takes roughly 26 minutes. Interestingly, the longer the beans roast the more caffeine burns off of them. So while you may think that drinking the darkest coffee will give you an extra kick in the morning, you’d actually be better off with a lighter roast to start your day!

At the end of the tour everyone will get their own cup of freshly ground coffee to taste & soak in the hardwork that goes into each sip.

How Does Cacao Become Chocolate?

Similarly to the coffee plants, cacao trees also take a few years to mature enough to bare fruit. When it is finally time to harvest, the farmers will collect, ferment, and dry the cacao beans. At this point the beans will be roasted (at a varying duration depending on the brand’s preference), and popped into a hand-mill to break the exterior shells.

The output of cocoa is then winnowed to remove any shell remnants, and the nibs are sent back through the hand-mill to create a chocolate-like paste. A mortar and pestle are then used to grind the cocoa up more finely – and voila, there’s your chocolate!

The chocolate may continue to go through rounds of grinding and tempering to perfect its texture and taste, but that’s pretty much all she wrote! On the tour, you’ll get to taste a bit of the raw chocolate at each stage in the process – including the harvested bean itself if you’re interested! But beware – the more raw the cacao, the more bitter to the taste. 😉

Combination Tour Options

Don Juan Family Tours

Location: La Fortuna, Costa Rica

Duration: ~ 2 hours

Price: ~ $45 USD (~30,000 colones)

North Fields Coffee and Chocolate

Location: La Fortuna, Costa Rica

Duration: ~ 2.5 hours

Price: ~ $40 USD (~27,000 colones)

Don Juan Family Tours

Location: Monteverde, Costa Rica

Duration: ~ 2.5 hours

Price: ~ $45 USD (~30,000 colones)

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