Don Juan is the original working finca of the Arenal region and one of the most beloved agricultural experiences near La Fortuna — a 2-hour tour that walks you through the full farming culture of rural Costa Rica in one place. Founded by Don Juan himself, the property still runs as a mixed traditional finca growing shade-grown arabica coffee, cacao, sugar cane, tropical fruit and staple root vegetables. Your bilingual guide leads you through the coffee plantation to explain varietal selection, altitude, shade management and hand-picking, and then to the on-site micro-mill where the beans are depulped, fermented, sun-dried on raised African beds and roasted in a wood-fired drum you can see and smell in real time. In the cacao section you follow the bean-to-bar process — fermentation, drying, roasting, cracking, winnowing, conching — and grind your own chocolate on a stone metate. The final stop is the ox-driven traditional trapiche where sugar cane is pressed for juice and boiled down into dulce blocks. The tour finishes with a full tasting flight: freshly roasted coffee, dark chocolate at multiple percentages, fresh cane juice with lime, and seasonal tropical fruit. Included: bilingual guide and all tastings. Transport is not included — we quote it separately by hotel and zone. Family-friendly, humor-heavy and rooted in real Costa Rican farming culture.
