Before my husband and I met, we were both casual coffee drinkers. It was only after we began dating that we truly fell down the rabbit hole together. Soon, coffee became more to us than just a morning pick-me-up, but a part of our lifestyle. Along this journey, there were a few pivotal moments that led to our deeper love and appreciation for coffee. But the most important ones can be summed up in one word: travel.
It started small and unintentional, finding ourselves gravitating towards as many local coffee shops as we could find any time we were in a new place. It wasn't long before "coffee shops to visit" moved to the top of our itinerary for every trip. Eventually, we took it one step further, and went on a vacation that was centered around coffee.
In the summer of 2021, my husband surprised me with a trip to Costa Rica. While there, we stayed on a family-owned coffee farm. It was Costa Rica's rainy season, which ultimately worked out in our favor. We were the only tourists staying on the farm that weekend, and we got to know the family more personally. We ate some of our meals alongside the family at their restaurant on the farm. We went on an intimate tour of the coffee farm and roasting facility. They personally showed us every detail that goes into their harvesting and roasting process. We got to pick and taste some of the unroasted green coffee beans while touring the farm, along with endless cups of delicious freshly roasted coffee.
When we weren't on the farm, we spent our time enjoying tours of the local towns and visited a few other coffee farms along the way. Many of their farming practices were similar, but still varied slightly as landscapes and elevation changed.
When we left Costa Rica, we knew this would not be our last vacation centered around coffee. Over the next two years, we visited more coffee farms in Mexico and El Salvador. We got to see firsthand how difficult the work is and how important it is to make sure your coffee is ethically sourced. We learned to value farms where the workers are treated well and care for the crops using organic farming practices. When we returned home, we continued to uphold these values by prioritizing where our coffee was being sourced from.
If you are a coffee and travel lover like us, we highly recommend visiting a coffee farm on your next trip. There are many coffee farms in Central America that also have accommodations, so you can stay right on the farm getting a more detailed and intimate experience. If that's not for you, there are always day tours available as well.
We hope you enjoyed learning about how travel was a huge inspiration for us on our coffee journey. Stay tuned for our 'coffee and travel' series on the blog where we will be sharing some coffee and travel tips as well as highlighting some of our favorite coffee shops we discover on the road.