Best Chocolate Tours in La Fortuna: Visiting a Costa Rica Chocolate Farm
Visiting Costa Rica and looking for the best chocolate tour in La Fortuna?
Chocolate, one of the world’s delicacies, is grown and produced right here in the Alajuela region, making a La Fortuna chocolate tour one of the best things to do in the country.
I took two great chocolate tours while in La Fortuna, one solely about chocolate, and one that combined chocolate with coffee. Both were exceptional and highly rated by fellow travellers, too.
As a top producing region in the country and the world for that matter, La Fortuna contains the top chocolate tour Costa Rica has to offer. On La Fortuna chocolate tours in Costa Rica, you will learn about the growing, producing and selling of cacao, plus you will be able to taste some of the best chocolate on earth!
Costa Rica also offers a few great La Fortuna coffee tour options that are incorporated with chocolate to give you the best of both worlds.
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While coffee isn’t produced in La Fortuna, it gives you a great overview of its production and history within the country and the importance that both play within the Costa Rican culture. You can also taste a couple of freshly brewed cups of coffee on your chocolate in Costa Rica tour!
This detailed guide covered my recommended La Fortuna chocolate tours and other popular tours, too.
Best La Fortuna Chocolate Tours
BEST CHOCOLATE TOUR IN COSTA RICA
Rainforest Chocolate Tour La Fortuna
BEST COFFEE + CHOCOLATE TOUR
North Fields Craft Chocolate + Coffee Tour
The Best Costa Rica Chocolate Tour
in La Fortuna
Rainforest Chocolate Tour (top pick!)
The Rainforest Chocolate Tour is solely focused on the food of the gods, chocolate. As the most popular and most highly rated chocolate tour in La Fortuna, and in Costa Rica, for that matter, the Rainforest Chocolate Tour is a must when visiting the otherwise adventure-packed destination of La Fortuna. How long is the Rainforest Chocolate Tour? 2 hours.
I went on the Rainforest Chocolate Tour and can definitely recommend it. It was one of my favourite food-related attractions in La Fortuna.
WHERE | Rainforest Chocolate Tour
Learning about Chocolate in Costa Rica
You start your chocolate adventure at the main office in front of a map of the world. Your friendly guide will tell you about the timeline of chocolate production on earth and ask you some fun questions.
Then you will move across the picturesque stationary bridge into the chocolate farm or plantation. Here you will see how cacao pods sprout and grow on the trunks and branches of the trees. The guide will give you some time to explore amongst the cacao trees and take photos.
Next, stroll into the drying shack and be taught about the fermentation and drying process for the cacao bean.
It’s truly amazing being amongst the cacao trees in central Costa Rica, as you listen to the sounds of birds and cicadas.
The portion of the Rainforest Chocolate Tour will take you to the wooden demonstration area. Here you will learn about the ancient cacao-making process that includes cracking open a freshly harvested cacao pod to reveal the slimy white coat of the outer cacao seed. You will be amazed by the colour of a raw cacao bean. As purple as a grape popsicle!
Tasting Costa Rica Chocolate
My favourite part is the chocolate tasting. Right after grinding the cacao nibs (pure cacao) into a liquid, you will taste the best hot chocolate of your life. Yes, you will be surprised by the taste of pure cacao and no, it’s not naturally sweet.
Most people can’t tolerate 100% dark chocolate, so producers and manufacturers will add 20% or more sugar and other ingredients like milk powder to make it more palatable.
With the remaining liquified cacao, you will get to mix your own concoctions. I loved the vanilla and chile combination, but there are a ton of ingredients to choose from. The tasting is basically unlimited, to taste as much chocolate as you can handle.
Both are tasty and educational tour for the whole family.
Check Price + Availability of the Rainforest Chocolate Tour
Best Coffee and Chocolate Tour
in Costa Rica La Fortuna
North Fields Coffee & Chocolate Tour
Fun for the whole family, a chocolate and coffee tour La Fortuna style is best taken with the knowledgeable guides at North Fields Craft Chocolate and Coffee Tour. I took my tour with the North Fields in the morning, which was perfect to enjoy my morning cup of joe or two. With a hit of chocolate, you are more than energized for the day.
It is my top pick for the best chocolate and coffee tour in La Fortuna, Costa Rica.
WHERE | North Fields Coffee & Chocolate Tour
Learning about Costa Rica Coffee & Chocolate
Walk amongst the beautiful flora and fauna of the North Fields Farm and listen to your guide chat about coffee and chocolate cultivation on the farm and in the region. The guides here are really high-energy and entertaining, chiming in with a few dad jokes here and there. We were fortunate enough to meet one of the oldest workers on the farm too.
Learn about the raw coffee berry, its harvesting and drying process along with the cultivation of the cacao pod. The guide will offer a tasting of the raw cacao bean with its slimy white exterior. The majority of our group declined because it looked ‘gross’, but I partook and it was a great experience!
Tasting Coffee, Chocolate & Sugar Cane
Take a seat around the chocolate-tasting tables at the main office of North Fields Coffee & Chocolate Tour. Your tour guide will show you the grinding and heating of cacao and allow you to mix your own ingredients with 100% dark chocolate.
Make sure to add a touch of sugar, since most palettes can’t tolerate the bitterness of pure cacao. I would suggest trying the pure form though at least once, as it’s such a unique and authentic taste. Much different from the mass-produced chocolate bars we get in North America.
Next, be taken to watch the roasting process of the coffee bean and learn about the difference between light, medium and dark roasts. Try a cup of sugar can juice, too!
Last, but certainly not least, take a stool at the coffee counter and watch as your coffee connoisseur brews a medium and dark roast pot of coffee using the traditional ‘sock’ method common throughout Costa Rica.
End your coffee chocolate tour La Fortuna by perusing the souvenir shop at the front, perhaps taking home a La Fortuna chocolate bar (or two) for your friends and family at home.
Check Price + Availability on the North Fields Coffee & Chocolate Tour
Other Popular Chocolate Tours in La Fortuna
Don Juan Coffee and Chocolate Tour
Similar to the North Fields coffee and chocolate tour, a guide will take you on a stroll through the family-run farm on this Don Juan Tour. Learn about the bean-to-cup and seed-to-bar processes for both chocolate and coffee. The tour is 2 hours in duration.
Don Olivo Chocolate Tour
Don Olivo Farm produces the highest quality chocolate known as the Criollo bean. Learn about this variety of chocolate, plus information on coffee, spices, vanilla, rum and sugar cane production. Taste fresh local fruits, chocolate and coffee, too.
The farm holds 1600 cacao trees and produces over 150 pounds of cacao every week. A big production!
Eden Chocolate Tour
Walk amongst the cacao trees of the organic Eden Farm along your Eden Chocolate Tour. This tour will teach you everything about the chocolate-making process in Costa Rica, plus you get hands-on experience making chocolate yourself. The Eden Chocolate Tour is 1.5 hours long.
