Love coffee, chocolate, and sugar? The Don Juan Coffee Plantation in the Monteverde Cloud Forest, Costa Rica is a total must-see. This is not your average “look at some trees” tour — it’s hands-on, educational, and full of surprises. You’ll see how coffee beans, cocoa, and sugar cane go from farm to cup (or bar), taste the results, and explore one of Costa Rica’s most magical cloud forests.
Ever wondered:
- What exactly is a cloud forest?
- How your coffee gets from tree to cup?
- Why mosquitoes are secretly the heroes of chocolate?
- Where our sugar actually comes from?
Here, you’ll get answers — plus coffee cherries, cocoa pods, sugar canes, and a few delightful surprises.
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Table of contents
Key Takeaways
- The Don Juan Coffee Plantation in Monteverde Cloud Forest offers an educational and hands-on tour about coffee, chocolate, and sugar.
- Visitors experience harvesting, processing coffee, and can sip fresh sugar cane juice during the tour.
- Monteverde’s ideal climate fosters high-quality, shade-grown coffee, protecting the environment.
- The plantation features ADA-compliant paths, making it accessible for visitors with mobility challenges.
- Tour duration is 2-3 hours; best time to visit is year-round, especially during harvest season from November to March.
Monteverde: Cloud Forest Heaven
The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Reserva Biológica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde) spans 26,000+ acres of misty, green paradise. It’s home to thousands of plant and insect species, plus hundreds of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.
During our visit, we did a treetop walk across six suspension bridges, putting us at monkey, squirrel, and raptor level. With my MS, I had to pace myself, but every breathtaking view made it worth it. Next time? Hiking poles for sure.
Monteverde’s cool, shady climate is perfect for growing high-quality coffee, cocoa, and sugar cane without the use of harmful pesticides.
What is a Cloud Forest?
A cloud forest is usually tropical but there are more moderate ones also (in the Pacific North West coastal area). Consisting of mostly evergreens with a low-level cloud cover, this forest is generally foggy at the vegetation level. Thanks to the abundance of water, there is lots of lush greenery in cloud forests.
Why Monteverde is Ideal for Coffee
Coffee originally grew under shade trees. In the 1970s, farmers experimented with full-sun plantations to speed up ripening and boost yields. But that came with fertilizers and pesticides — bad for people and wildlife.
Now, shade-grown coffee is back, producing slower-growing but tastier beans while protecting the environment. Monteverde’s cloud forest provides the perfect shaded, misty conditions.
Don Juan Coffee Plantation Tour
After a bumpy bus ride with a short stop to see some howler monkeys, we arrived at the Don Juan Coffee Plantation.
Traditional Ox Cart Ride
Our tour kicked off with a short ox cart ride — perfect for photos and imagining farmers doing this every day. Modern convenience FTW!
From Coffee Bean to Cup
The tour walks you through coffee from seedling to roasting. Washing, drying, hulling, and polishing — it’s a lot more work than “pick a bean, roast it, done!”
Key steps we experienced:
- Harvesting ripe coffee cherries;
- Drying and hulling the beans;
- Roasting and polishing.
Did I Hear You Say “Chocolate”?
Time to move on to the cocoa section of the coffee plantation. After seeing the coffee beans, I kind of expected cocoa beans to look similar to coffee beans. Nope, they don’t. They actually grow together in big pods high in a tree.
Food of the Gods
In 1753, the botanist Carl Linnaeus must really have liked chocolate, because he named the cocoa tree “Food of the gods”. In Greek this translates to Theobroma (“theo” for “god”, while “broma” means “food”). Then he added Cacao (Spanish for cocoa) and named the tree “Theobroma Cacao”.
Get the Buzz: Mosquitoes and Chocolate
So you love chocolate but hate mosquitoes, right? Fun fact: mosquitoes are essential pollinators — no mosquitoes, no chocolate!
Fancy That: Fermented chocolate!
Cocoa beans ferment for about a week, traditionally between banana leaves, to develop rich chocolate flavor. Patience really is a virtue.
Chocolate Tasting Experience
We extracted our own chocolate and sampled it with local ingredients. Freshly fermented cocoa? Absolutely heavenly.
Just thinking back at this I can still taste the richness of freshly extracted (and fermented 🙂 cocoa beans.
Sugar Cane Exploration
Growing up in the Netherlands, I knew where sugar came from: sugar beets! Later I found out that the sugar saga was a lot more complicated, starting during ancient times with sugar cane cultivation in Asia.
Quick History of Sugar
Once Europeans discovered sugar in Asia, Venice became one of the major sugar importers and distributors. In the mid-15th century, Europeans settled and started growing sugar on Madeira, and the Canary Islands. Although this made sugar more available, it still was really expensive and the common man was more likely to sweeten dishes with honey or malt.
Christopher Columbus introduced sugar cane samples to the New World, where it took off and still is a major part of the economy of many countries, like here in Costa Rica.
Hands-On Fun: How to Get Sugar out of Sugar Cane
Living in New England, we have been to many cider presses parties, where we press apples to transform them into soft and hard ciders. So it was a fun discovery that sugar canes get processed in a similar way.
We got to press juice from a sugar cane, and even got to sip it. Frankly, it wasn’t super sweet, but still a cool experience. Then it was time to head back to the main building for some more coffee tastings.
Oh, and what about those sugar beets? They arrived late at the game, not until the 1700s, when the German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf figured out a way to extract sugar from sugar beets. Currently, about 20 % of our white table sugar is from sugar beets, and 80 % comes from sugar cane.
Conclusion: Why You Should Go
This tour is a full sensory adventure: coffee aromas, chocolate tastings, cloud forest views, and a little sugar fun. The Don Juan Coffee Plantation is perfect for coffee lovers, chocolate enthusiasts, and nature travelers alike.
Monteverde coffee tour, chocolate, sugar cane — it’s all here. Go for it!
Have you been to Monteverde? Or a coffee plantation anywhere else? Please let us know in the comments.
Tips for Your Visit
- Duration: 2–3 hours
- Best time to visit: Year-round (harvest season: Nov–Mar)
- Bring: Hiking poles for treetop walks, sunscreen, camera
- Tours available: Coffee, chocolate, sugar cane, or combined experiences
ADA Accessibility of Don Juan Coffee Plantation
The plantation is mostly paved and ADA-compliant, making it wheelchair-friendly. Visitors with mobility challenges, like me with MS, can comfortably enjoy the tour. Seating is available at the main building for rest stops before or after the tour.
Other Things to do in Costa Rica
- Best birding in Costa Rica. Brought to you by a certified bird nerd;
- The Best Street Food in Puntarenas: a Churchill! Don’t miss out on this local delicacy;
- Never smile at a crocodile but did you know that crocodiles have predators too?
- Have your ever had a Flaming Mexican coffee?
Tour coffee, cocoa, and sugar cane fields, learn about the harvesting process, and enjoy tastings of fresh coffee and chocolate.
Yes! Paved paths and ADA-compliant buildings make the tour suitable for visitors with mobility challenges.
The full tour lasts about 2–3 hours, including coffee, chocolate, and sugar cane experiences.
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