Being an avid coffee lover, I knew that I wanted to try as much Costa Rican coffee as possible. This is why I sought out going on the Doka Estate Coffee Tour. Doka Estate is owned by a family who has been growing coffee for three generations. They didn’t start this estate, though, they bought it from a German man and continued on with their coffee growing tradition. Luckily, they offer tours to get an insight into their beautiful estate.
ABOUT THE DOKA ESTATE COFFEE TOUR
We kicked off our tour by starting in Doka’s little coffee shop with a welcome drink. They blended together a delicious chocolate, cinnamon, honey iced coffee. There’s nothing like kicking off a coffee tour with a small jolt of caffeine and a taste of what Doka Estate is growing and roasting!
We kicked off our Doka Estate coffee tour with our wonderful guide, Mauricio, explaining to us a little about the way that coffee plants grow. He showed us samples of little starts all the way up to a 1-year plant, which is the time that they’re planted. Mauricio informed us about how their beans are all arabica beans, but grown and roasted differently to create many different flavors of coffee. Next it was on to where they sort, separate, and dry the cherries + beans.
That means, the next stop was the oldest wet mill in all of Costa Rica. We were super lucky that there was a really early shipment of coffee cherries, so we got to watch this wet mill in action!
The cherries are dumped into the wet mill with lots and lots of water. The ripe cherries sink to the bottom and the bad ones are skimmed off the top. Then they go to the next stages of sorting, all via water and gravity. Each cherry is shot through a canal and ends up sorted into appropriate tanks. And the water does one other important step, it peels the berries too!
Then they sit for a day or so while the fruit ferments and breaks down around the bean. They reuse the fermented fruit to make a fuel. Then the beans are taken outside to dry in the sunlight. Why use the sun? Well, it doesn’t use any electricity and it’s free! The workers here then rake the beans out flat to make sure they dry evenly. Unfortunately, we were there are a rainy day, so the beans were piled under tarps to help them keep warm. Otherwise, we would’ve been able to give it a go!
Then, we got to see how the beans looked dried out. And we were able to help find some peaberries. A peaberry is a coffee seed (bean) that only has one seed in the cherry. This makes that bean rounded, which many say means that it roasts significantly better than others. It’s only found in about 5% of all coffee beans, so it’s a rarer coffee to find.
Then it was on to learning more about the roasts. And on to samples – which is almost always a favorite part! Mauricio explained to us how light roasts means a less robust flavor, but a lot more caffeine. Espresso, while it has the most robust flavor has the smallest amount of caffeine. I really enjoyed their Breakfast Blend, a medium roast. It has a great carmely, sweet flavor, and then I always love a good espresso.
If you want a coffee to-go or something blended, I highly recommend popping back into the cafe for a tasty coffee drink. I would love to be back there for one of those chocolate, cinnamon, honey iced coffees right now!
IS THERE MORE TO THE DOKA ESTATE COFFEE TOUR THAN COFFEE?
Obviously, coffee is Doka Estate’s game. Therefore, that is the main focus here. That said, there is also a butterfly garden here and many different beautiful varieties of plants growing around the plantation. Both in the greenhouses on the grounds and also growing around the plantation as well.
The tree on the left above this text is a rainbow eucalyptus tree. The bark is actually those colors – it’s amazing! Plus, there are all kinds of beautiful flowers growing around the plantation as well. A plant lover, would really enjoy this tour and learning about coffee plants as well! They also had a lovely gift shop and breakfast and lunch are available daily!
I think that any trip to Costa Rica should include a coffee tour. It’s such a delicious and important commodity. Plus, there’s nothing like having coffee right from the source. I really enjoyed our Doka Estate Coffee Tour and enjoyed seeing an area where something that is such a part of my daily life is grown, roasted and sold.
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*Although we were guests of Doka Estate Coffee Tour all opinions, as always, are my own.
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