Starbucks Has Its Own Coffee Farm, and I Got to Visit—Here’s What It Was Like
On a recent trip to Costa Rica with my son, we spent the day at one of the most popular attractions in the country. It wasn't the rainforest, a volcano or a sloth sanctuary (although those are all pretty awesome too). Nope, I spent my day sipping coffee and finding out how beans go from field to cup at one of the best travel attractions I've ever visited.
What is this coffee-lover's dream destination? Welcome to Hacienda Alsacia, the only Starbucks-owned coffee farm and visitor center in the world. The coffee giant's working farm is located on the slopes of Poás Volcano in the country's lush, green Central Valley, less than an hour from the capital of Costa Rica , San José.
Wait, Starbucks has a working farm? Yep, but this farm is less about coffee drinks and sweet treats (although there are plenty of those—more on that later!), and more about development, sustainability and the art of creating, and drinking, the perfect cup. It's also beautiful, educational and a great trip to take with your family. Read on to learn more about this incredible attraction.
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What is the Starbucks coffee farm?
Hacienda Alsacia is a 600-acre hillside farm where they develop new bean varietals, grow coffee plants, roast beans and brew coffee. No, this farm doesn't supply the more than 40,000 Starbucks stores around the world, but they do have a devoted research and development team working to create coffee plants that are sustainable and weather-resistant, all while helping to support local farmers and the environment.
I was able to walk along lush pathways, watch the red coffee berries get sorted, washed and dried in a Willy Wonka–esque sorting room, then smell the beans roasting to perfection. But wait, there's more! After exploring the farm, I sampled a range of coffee varietals before finally relaxing in the lush green rainforest at what I can easily say is the most beautiful Starbucks cafe I've ever seen.
What surprised me most at the Starbucks coffee farm
Heading to Hacienda Alsacia, I pictured seeing beans on display and sipping some coffee, but being at an actual working coffee farm was something altogether different. Here's what surprised me the most.
The setting is spectacular
Erase all thoughts of a big concrete factory from your mind. Hacienda Alsacia is green and lush and gorgeous. The entire open-air guest center overlooks a waterfall and a gorge filled with tropical greenery. Even the Starbucks logo here is made of plants!
To see the growing red coffee cherries, aka the fruits of the coffee plant containing the coffee "beans" (actually seeds), you walk up paths bordered with palm trees and tropical plants, which made me feel more like I was on a nature hike than a facility tour.
Tasting coffee is a lot like tasting wine
I'll be honest, when I first heard about the Starbucks coffee tasting, I was picturing frozen concoctions and sweetened beverages. But a real coffee tasting is a lot like a wine tasting, with plenty of complex flavors and particular ways to sip and evaluate what's in your cup. We were lucky enough to try multiple rounds of different coffees that are grown and roasted on the premises.
Each of the coffee samples was served with chocolate truffles with different flavored centers, all of which were delicious. Then we smelled, slurped (a technical term, I swear) and tried to describe what we tasted against a flavor wheel—just like a wine tasting—to discover sensory profiles that included spices (clove, cinnamon), fruit (berries, peaches), nuts (almonds, peanuts) and more.
You can plant a tree while you're there (but it takes time to produce beans)
Another special part of the visit was taking a tractor ride to plant a coffee bush. You can even create a personalized marker to commemorate your contribution. But, I learned, it takes up to five years for a plant to produce beans (and then after another 20 years, it no longer yields beans), so you won't be able to sample a cup from your personal plant.
Fun facts: One tree produces roughly one pound of coffee per year, and it takes about 50 beans to produce a single cup of espresso.
The color of your bean does not mean a stronger cup of coffee
Another thing I learned at the farm while we explored the roasting process (which, I have to admit, was news to me): The longer a bean has been roasted, the less caffeine it has. That means lighter, less-processed beans, like Starbucks blonde roast, actually have more caffeine than espresso beans, since the darker bean has been cooked longer. So darker is lighter and lighter is stronger. Wild, right?
Pro tip: The best way to get the most flavor when brewing coffee , says the staff at Hacienda Alsacia, is to grind it yourself, then prepare it as a pour-over. (French Press is the next preferred method.)
There is so much more than cake pops
I love coffee, but one of the best discoveries I made on my trip was the multitude of tastes and treats available at Hacienda Alsacia's cafe. Yes, there are standard go-tos, including cake pops, but have you ever had a cup of squash soup at a Starbucks near you? How about lasagna? Rice and beans? A sparkling iced mint espresso soda? Nope, me either.
But my absolute favorite treat at the cafe was a sweet surprise: strawberries grown on the neighboring volcanic slopes served with vanilla ice cream and a decadent fudge sauce. I savored it all with a big cup of cocoa, including freshly whipped cream, while sitting on the open-air porch in a large wooden rocking chair, overlooking a waterfall. Bliss.
Pro tip: Nibble a strawberry the next time you have a cup of coffee! It brings out the coffee's natural flavors, according to the Hacienda Alsacia staff.
Starbucks has coffee that is only sold here
In Costa Rica, Hacienda Alsacia grows, roasts and bags an only-on-the-farm single-origin Hacienda Alsacia Reserva coffee in dark, medium and blonde roasts. It's the only place in the world where you can buy the single-origin beans in all three roasts.
Then there's a Hacienda Alsacia medium roast, sold at Starbucks around Costa Rica—including, helpfully, at the airport; this is sold in Costa Rica and nowhere else. And here's my final pro tip: This is a great souvenir for your coffee-loving friends back home.
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