Savouring the Flavours: Chocolate and Coffee Bliss and Monteverde Brewing Company

12/15/20242 min read

The weather improves

Today has been windy but dry. On the way out we saw a tree blown down. We're currently about 1500 metre above sea level so the weather is a bit different than at the coast. Still warm on low 20s during the day but less humidity and cooler at night, it's been a while since we haven't needed air-conditioning.

Exploring the Chocolate Experience

Monteverde is renowned for its rich coffee and chocolate production. So a visit to a local coffee and chocolate plantation was a must. This was a great 2 hours, it was set in the countryside and at the start of the tour we saw two types of toucans nearby. The young lad who took as around was knowledgeable and funny. We got involved in the process myself and another chap turned the handles on a mangle to extract the pulp from sugar cane which was surprisingly hard work! They gave us plenty of samples of chocolate and for the others coffee.

There were a group of 4 Americans with us, one who was born in Oldham and went to uni in Sheffield. As we talked, he mentioned in lived in Walkley so I asked which road and he said Cundy Street! This is where I lived and even more of a coincidence he was there in 1993 which was the same time as me and Karen lived there. Such a small world.

Another flight from the brewery

After the tour we got some lunch at a local brewery. The taxis are really limited so when the guy dropped us off, I got his contact details so we could get a lift back. As we were waiting an American couple drove out and offered us a lift but as we'd already whatsapped the taxi we had to decline.

A little history

We enjoyed our time in Monteverde, it's a lush area with nice people. Just a shame we lost one day due to the torrential rain. A bit of history is that an area was set aside here in the 1950s for Quakers from the US. They didn't want to support the Korean war either by being called up or through their taxes. This is apparently the reason a lot of people in the area have blue eyes, going against the grain for Costa Rica. Karen has renamed it Costa Raina but at least it's warm rain.