- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Apr 5, 2025, 3:27 PM
- ☁️ 30 °C
- Altitude: 258 m
Costa RicaMacacona10°0’9” N 84°37’13” W
Costa Rica

Today we arrived at Costa Rica so another early start for a full day of touring.
So the number one export from Costa Rica- coffee ☕️ right? Well apparently not. In fact coffee comes down the list at about number eight. The number one export is medical equipment- who knew! Followed by bananas then pineapples. Costa Rica only produces 1% of world coffee production.
Not really sure why the scheduled port couldn't accommodate us, but we docked at a container port, which even the tour guide said is in the middle of nowhere!! This has added many hours onto the trip but has given us such a great opportunity to see the country, and together with an excellent tour guide, the day has been amazing.
The highlight for all four of us was the Hacienda Doka coffee plantation. The place has such a history and today wins awards for preserving the old techniques for producing coffee. Again, we were blessed with a knowledgeable and entertaining guide who took us through the whole process from growing the plant from seed to our final part of the tour - coffee sampling!
I had no idea i knew so little about a beverage I drink so much of! For example, my favorite flavor is dark roast but for a caffeine hit, the coffee needs to be a light roast because the roasting process destroys the caffeine - again who knew the stronger the coffee flavour the weaker caffeine? Also I didn't know that the coffee plant has no animal predators because they don't like the caffeine however the plants are susceptible to devastation by fungus which is getting worse due to climate change and can destroy a whole plantation in as little as two years.
From there we went to the factory which makes the original carts pulled by oxen in the coffee plantations. Amazing skills from a bygone era.
The photos probably need explanations to truly make sense, but at least they give a great overview of our day.Read more
Traveler
Beautiful photos. I hope you enjoyed a lovely coffee! Xxx
Traveler We i did not know that about coffee either! It does look like you had an amazing day, and yes i hope you finally got an excellent coffee☕️❤️
Traveler Learning so much from your commentary Sharon!! And loving the photos! xx