Britt Coffee Tour – Costa Rica

San Jose, Costa Rica is overflowing with things to do. It’s funny because most people immediately flock to the big-ticket items when visiting Costa Rica; beaches, volcanoes, waterfalls, the list goes on. There are so many incredible and exotic experiences to be had all over the country that sometimes travelers ignore the capital city. However, the San Jose area also offers tons of fun activities. One in particular, the Britt coffee tour, is close to my heart because I did it when I was 11 and I’ve always remembered it!

Interestingly enough, I didn’t start drinking coffee until about 2 years ago. Throughout college I actually drank energy drinks because I could never get used to the coffee taste. However, once I started traveling more I realized that energy drinks were sometimes difficult to find in foreign countries. This lead me to make the move to coffee – you can get a cup of it basically anywhere! I eventually quit energy drinks altogether (probably for the better) and now have a go-to coffee instead.

The Britt coffee tour offers you the opportunity to visit and tour a working Britt coffee plantation. You get walked through the entire coffee-making process – from the ground into your cup. You even get to taste test 🙂 We got rained on (it’s Costa Rica, not surprising!) but it was so much fun getting to see all stages of the process. Our tour guides were also extremely friendly and personable and they made the educational portion quite entertaining.

Our tour guides! They did the entire tour in both English and Spanish to accommodate the different nationalities in our group.

The plantation itself is quite beautiful, and only sits about 30 minutes north of the city center. We took an uber to the plantation from San Jose and it cost about 5,000-7,000 colones – roughly $10-$15 USD. Also, unless you’re in high-peak season, it should be fairly easy to get a reservation; we called same-day. Once the tour is over you can have lunch at their on-site restaurant and browse the gift shop for coffee and coffee flavored goodies to take home. FUN FACT: You can sample most of their chocolates for FREE. We opted to have lunch nearby at La Carretica, a local restaurant serving typical Costa Rican cuisine. The on-site restaurant seemed a bit pricey. Up the road there is also a bar called Bar España. You’re welcome.

If you’re looking for something fun to do while you’re in San Jose, I definitely recommend looking at doing a coffee tour! It’s a great tour for a laid back day when you’re not hiking through the rainforest. They’ll also incorporate you into their skits and demonstrations and it’s a great way to embarrass your friends and family. 🙂

Hope you enjoyed!