North Fields Café is a small family-run finca on the slopes of the Arenal Volcano, where three generations grow specialty arabica coffee, cacao, sugar cane and tropical fruit using shade-grown, chemical-free methods. This 2.5-hour hands-on tour is one of the most authentic agricultural experiences near La Fortuna — no theme-park staging, no scripted actors, just the working farm and the family who runs it. Your bilingual guide walks you through the coffee fields to explain varietals, altitude, shade management and picking; you then move to the on-site micro-mill where you see the beans depulped, fermented, sun-dried and roasted in real time. In the cacao area you learn the full bean-to-bar process — fermentation, drying, roasting, cracking, winnowing, conching — and grind your own chocolate on a stone metate. The tour finishes with a full tasting flight of freshly roasted coffee, house chocolate at different cacao percentages, sugar cane juice pressed on a traditional trapiche and seasonal tropical fruit. Round-trip transport from La Fortuna hotels is available on request. Ideal for families with children, food-focused travelers, and anyone interested in Costa Rican agricultural culture beyond the standard tourist route. Small groups only, so the pace is unhurried and every question actually gets a proper answer.
