A couple months ago, we were able to go on a paseo (outting) as a family to Doka Coffee Plantation. It is one of two big and famous tour plantations. It was a really neat trip and we learned a lot about the coffee, how it is produced, and why we love it so much!
Here is the Doka history and information in their website:
Doka Estate
(I mean, why should I tell you when you can read all about it)
If you are ever in San Jose, I suggest you put this on your list of things to do, especially if you like coffee!
Here are some of the pictures of the plantation and the coffee process, ENJOY!
 |
| Learning about the coffee bean |
 |
| Couldn't believe they were paying attention so well! |
 |
| Beautiful and exotic plants on the plantation |
 |
| Beautiful hydrangeas--my favorite |
 |
| They had a nice butterfly garden that Emme loved--of course! |
 |
| Bananas at your service |
THE COFFEE PROCESS-BY STATIONS
 |
| The big machine that sorts all of the coffee |
 |
| Peeling the skin off of the bean--it goes through 4 or 5 different machines to do this |
 |
| Here is the machine that has the different parts. |
Station 3 was the washing/rinsing...somehow I missed the pictures of the big tubs...(you can see them on the upper far left of the picture above)
 |
| Station 4: Used during the rainy season |
 |
| This is the huge dryer for the coffee beans |
 |
| They take advantage of the traditional way of drying coffee beans (one of the only that still uses this process) |
 |
| These are rows of beans being dried--high quality are the yellow beans |
 |
| These two men work the area all day-putting them in lines, piles, etc--ALL DAY! |
 |
| These are the low quality beans--still good, but cheaper |
Emme trying her hand at drying the beans
 |
| Station 5: lots of storage of beans |
 |
| MMMMMM...coffee |
 |
| Kids got to feel, smell and play in the beans |
 |
| a full bag of beans |
 |
| Whew! What a long day--want some coffee!!?? |
 |
| Why yes...thanks for offering! |
 |
| smell the coffee |
 |
| Different varieties of coffee--cool! |
 |
| The coffee plant Bruce talked the tour guide into giving him |
Bruce was able to talk the tour guide into giving him a 4 month coffee plant. They normally don't do that, and they don't sell the coffee plants--must have been the beard! Now this plant is teaching him patience, because it will take up to 4 years before this plant will produce any coffee!
gooz-fra-bah...... we will see how it goes!
Overall, it was a really great trip and some really good coffee. They also had free samples of chocolate covered coffee beans that Emme found and started eating like mad! She also found the free samples of coffee--and of course, the Tica that she is becoming, had to make herself a cup! Lord help us! :)
Check out the other half of the paseo- Volcan Poas- on the next blog!
In HIM,
The Crawfords
No comments:
Post a Comment