If you love chocolate this post is for you! I have to admit I have a horrible sweet tooth; and I mean really bad. I wish I could be one of those people who is like, “I don’t need sweets” but alas, that is not me. While in Costa Rica I had the opportunity to visit a chocolate farm. At first, I was thinking what the hell is chocolate farm, and quickly after that “I that I need to go”.
I visited the Sibo Chocolate Farm in San Jose Costa Rica. It is located up in the mountains and easily accessible by taxi. Once you arrive you are brought inside for a demonstration and history lesson. This isn’t one of those boring tours where they just talk for hours. Instead, they talk AND provide you with chocolate samples, so naturally you are more inclined to listen.
They first pass around this avatar looking fruit. I mean seriously this thing looks straight from Pandora. It’s not…I asked…it’s actually called a cacao plant and it comes from the cacao tree which is a part of the evergreen family. The fruit is yellow and then when you crack it open it looks like an alien egg. Apparently, those alien things are what become the chocolate. I was extremely skeptical but hey, I am not the chocolate maker.
Next, they passed around the dried cacao nibs which looks like a dried almond. After the nibs are dried, they process them and turn them into liquids. This is where they add all the sweeteners and determine the flavor of the chocolate.
At this point in the demonstration, they did the tasting. Mind you, people have different taste in flavors. For me I think spicy chocolate is just disgusting, and some hate sweet chocolate. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.
We tried around eight different flavors, there was spicy, milk, dark, caramel, mint and a few others. Although I wasn’t a fan of all of the flavors, I really could tell how fresh the chocolate was. It makes such a difference; I really didn’t even realize. They even brought out hot chocolate and some spicy hot chocolate (I really don’t get the spice thing).
After successfully gorging myself in chocolate, the tour was over. They did provide a buffet lunch and you guessed it chocolate for the dessert. The highlight of the tour though was when I snuck into the children demonstration.
Okay let me explain why I did this. The kids got to make their own chocolate I mean so cool! Yes, at the time I was 23 but hey, the Botox had me looking maybe 18. So, I decided to YOLO and went in with the kids from my guided tour. They thought it was hilarious and I got double the free chocolate, so that’s a win in my book!
I would really recommend if you are in Costa Rica that you do a chocolate tour and tasting! They are so much fun and you get to eat chocolate for a solid hour so it can’t be bad. I went to Sibo and would really recommend them! If you aren’t in San Jose, there are tons of other places to try!
Drop a comment below if you have ever done a chocolate tour and your experience. Or if you have ever wanted to do one!
I really enjoyed reading this and have added it to my activities list when I visit Costa Rica!
The closest thing I’ve ever done was participate in a chocolate making experience in St. Lucia. I have a sweet tooth too, so I can never go to too many chocolate excursions!
I’m so glad you are going to add this to your list! It was seriously such a fun activity, you’ll love it!