From a Costa Rican plantation to unique accommodations, discover what's brewing in Costa Rica
By: Ian Stalker
Costa Rica’s Doka Estate can give you the lowdown about your morning cup of Joe literally from the first point of cultivation of coffee beans on a coffee plantation to the time when the beverage ends up in a coffee mug.
The family owned San Jose-area coffee plantation welcomes visitors, telling them about the production of coffee and its importance in Costa Rican society.
“We explain the whole coffee process,” Doka Estate guide Mauricio said during a recent webinar hosted by Costa Rican tourism promotion board Pro Imagen. “It’s not just a coffee tour. It’s about Costa Rica’s history.”
Among facilities tourists can visit is the roasting room, with Mauricio reporting that it “smells really, really good there.”
Doka Estate also features the likes of a Butterfly Garden, a gift shop, and a greenhouse in which vegetables that will be served in the estate’s restaurant are grown, and a botanical garden is in the works.
The webinar also heard from northern Costa Rica’s Hacienda Cano Negro retreat, found in a wetlands area that is home to over 200 species of migratory birds. Guided boat tours are available.
Guests can stay in two-story houses and “jungle suites” are in the works.
Aventuras Tierra Verde’s Marieke Wielens said that company as in operation for 25 years and can offer clients the likes of guided tours, hotels, luxury eco-lodges and B&Bs.
Company clients can opt for such activities as cooking classes focusing on Costa Rican cuisine and enjoying nature, including “listening to scarlet macaws,” she said.
Aventuras Tierra Verde can accommodate English-, Spanish- and German-speaking clients, she continued.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Perez of the Los Altos Resort on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast billed that property as a “place where nature meets luxury.”
The resort, 2.5 hours from San Jose, has vertical structures to maximize use of area nature, she continued.
Guests can go on complimentary guided hikes on private lands and complimentary cooking classes are also available.
Reminders of area nature are even found in Los Altos’ restaurant, which among other things serves animal-shaped pancakes.
