'El Trapiche' estate and coffee tour

Jorge is Costa Rican and proud of it. In his twenties, standing around 5' 2" or so he is thin, fit, with brown twinkly eyes and a wicked sense of humour. Well equipped with binoculars, guide books, first aid kit and waterproofs; carried in a kind of cool waist bag, it is the must have accessory for serious guides.  Lots of guides have them, a cross between waist belt and rucksack with harness straps, they allow air to circulate around your back; pretty essential in the damp humidity of the Monteverde cloud forest.

 

Jorge works at 'El Trapiche' coffee tour, a family owned small farm, on which they grow sugar cane, coffee beans and bananas.

apparently there are three varieties of sugar cane

This was the best tour we have been on and it was all down to Jorge. His laid back manner and gentle charm combined with quick wit, self-deprecating humour and considerable intelligence, made him the perfect guide. His passion for and pride in his country shone though. His love of the Monteverde area is so strong, particularly the lands of the 'El Trapiche' estate. He even has a corner plot picked out with stunning views across a valley filled with coffee bushes, banana groves, pasture fields and the mystical forests.

a coffee bush

Jorge's valley with stupendous views

when they turn red they are ready for picking and a good picker can pick 13 kgs in a day!

Over this valley vultures soar on thermals and falcons swoop and pirouette like aerial acrobats with shrill cries carrying across the sunny valley sides. When God made Costa Rica, he was definitely working at his best.

Jorge guided us through paths and along hillsides stopping to show and explain the three types of sugar cane; passing some out to taste (I just wish I'd heard the instruction "suck the juice don't chew the cane"). Alas, as I grow older, I grow deafer and so learned the hard way about how to digest raw sugar cane plant!

 

Jorge's passion and pride in the small coffee plantation was evident; his talk and demonstration of the small machines used to turn red bean to deep chocolate brown aromatic coffee bean, superb. Not once did any of us lose attention. 

the coffee bush nursery

new coffee bushes ready to plant out

 

picked beans drying out in the shed being intently watched by a lizard

 

dried coffee beans ready for deskinning. a coffee bean has several skins which must be removed before it is ready for roasting

 

this machine separates the skins off the coffee bean

 

here the beans have been roasted and stirred continuously for a few hours

just smell the aroma

these are the tastiest beans I have ever tasted

some of the beans are destined for starbucks in USA; the rest for Europe

 

We made brown cane sugar, the sweetest fudge we have ever tasted and chewed on chocolate that we made during the tour. Jorge, describing himself as Costa Rica's answer to the " umpallumphs" of Willy Wonka fame (and forgive my spelling of ompalumpahs.......I've given two spelling versions here to hedge my bets!!!), encouraged us to participate in everything.

the cocoa pod

 

the beans. the white coating can be sucked off but be careful as it is hallucigenic

the coca beans are then left to ferment, wrapped in banana leaves

and then left to dry out for a few weeks

 

the dried beans are then split

to reveal the inner cocoa bit - the chocolate!

which then gets ground down into chocolate shavings

 

which then get mashed and turned into a paste with added sugar

here comes the chocolate paste!!! Yummy!

 

We met the owners of the small estate, father, mother and son, who made us feel so welcome. We finished with homemade lemonade, coffee from the estate and some small tacos. Oh and the brown sugar, also made on the estate.

 

making brown fudge which tasted wonderful

the son makes brown molasses from the sugar cane off the estate

pouring it into the cone shaped moulds

 

 

  The other group visiting with us were Spanish and as the ten of us sat in the kitchen, three of them pulled out a guitar and sang some amazing folk songs. It was such a treat. Jorge had one surprise left; opening his wallet he pulled out a small folded envelope of paper and with great care proceeded to unwrap a bright blue guitar plectrum.........are there no ends to the talents of Jorge? Apparently not!

If you visit Monteverde and Santa Elena, think about doing the 'El Trapiche' tour or another coffee/chocolate tour. It puts money into the local economy, you learn heaps and if it went like ours, you will be in for a rare and wonderful treat.  In our travels around Costa Rica we have yet to meet any Costa Rican who has offended us in anyway. All the Costa Ricans we have met have been kind, generous, welcoming, and good humoured. Everyone smiles, children are loved, and the Costa Ricans we met are deeply proud of their country and their ecotourism record. There are insufficient superlatives to describe the quality and skill of our guides. With five days to go on our amazing holiday, I don't expect this view to change one iota!

 Pura Vida, Costa Rica.

the farm's still - distilling sugar cane!

the remains of the sugar cane after the sugar has been pressed out of it