Costa Rica Eats Culinary Excursions One-Day Central Valley Epicurean Extravaganza Saturday & Sunday, November 10-11, 2012 Coffee, chocolate, honey, herbs, fresh organic fruits and vegetables and fine wine & dining— capped off with a night of luxury at Finca Rosa Blanca Coffee Plantation & Inn. Experience a range of farm to table delicacies from right here in our own backyards. The tour includes 3 culinary-themed tours, 3 full meals, a wide ranging wine tasting, transportation, and Junior Suite accommodations at Finca Rosa Blanca. You can opt to not spend the night, and return home after dinner and dessert are served, although you’ll want to stay… Our day begins with a pickup at one of several strategic points around San Jose and the lower Central Valley beginning at 10am, followed by a scenic drive to Sibu Chocolates in San Isidro de Heredia. At Sibu Chocolates we will be treated to a presentation on the history and how-to of chocolate production. We will learn how to temper chocolate by hand, and watch as they create their prized organic chocolates. At Sibu, we will also be treated to a full lunch, featuring a warm squash soup, organic micro green salad, homemade vegetarian enchiladas topped with a smoky tomato sauce and baked in their wood-fired brick oven. We’ll also enjoy our fill of delicious chocolates and cups of warm hot chocolate.
After lunch, we will drive through the lush hills of Heredia to the Ark Herb Farm, for a tour of this unique organic herb and fruit farm. The Ark Herb Farm has one of the finest collections of medicinal and aromatic herbs and plants in Costa Rica. While here, we will also be treated to a presentation and tasting of fresh honey, mead and goat cheese farmed and produced by Costa Rica Apiaries, who have their bee hives on the Ark Herb Farm grounds. From here it’s a short drive to Finca Rosa Blanca Coffee Plantation & Inn, one of Costa Rica’s top boutique hotels, where you can relax in your plush room, walk the lovely planted gardens, swim in the pool, soak in the hot tub, or sign up for a treatment at the hotel’s El Targua Spa. Dinner will be a 5-course “Coffee Connoisseur” tasting extravaganza at the hotel’s acclaimed El Tigre Vestido restaurant. Dishes will feature a roasted tomato and coffee soup with crispy leeks, and filet mignon in a red wine, espresso and cinnamon reduction. A range of distinct and complementary wine pairings will be provided by Sabores Argentinos.
After breakfast in the morning, we will enjoy a tour of Finca Rosa Blanca’s organic coffee plantation,. We will experience coffee through the ages; learning how coffee was discovered, traded and consumed, while strolling the lanes of this organic sustainable coffee plantation and learning the entire process of organic cultivation and harvest. Since this is November, we will also be able to participate, in a small part, in the harvesting of some ripe beans. After the walking tour, we will learn how the experts discern and rate gourmet coffee by participating in a “coffee cupping”. In the end, transportation will be provided back to your home or pick-up points in San Jose and around the Central Valley.
Option A. Includes round trip transportation, Sibu Chocolate tour and lunch, Ark Herb Farm and Costa Rica Apiaries tour and tasting, dinner and wine tasting at Finca Rosa Blanca. Cost: $145 per person. Option B. Includes all of the above, plus Junior Suite accommodations, full breakfast, and morning coffee plantation tour and cupping. Cost: $255 per person, double occupancy. Special Bonus Offer: Spa treatments at the El Targua Spa are offered at 2X1 for tour participants. Space is limited. Reserve by email, at espan27@gmail.com, or by calling 2282-4973.