Don Juan Chocolate and coffee tour

Jiya Patel

On August 8th, our mini family took a trip to the Don Juan Chocolate & Coffee Tour. During this trip, we walked through the fields looking at each stage of the cacaos starting from the seeds to the chocolate bar. The process takes 5 months or more depending on the flavor or choice. For example, the vanilla flavor takes 5 years to ferment. During the fermentation process, the longer it is kept in the jar, the better it is. The smell also gets terrible before it gets to the yummychocolaty smell. We all had smelled the different stages and it was not appetizing. They grow in the lowest elevation and the prime time to pick them is November to February. Most of the people who pick the seeds are from Nicaragua which is a bordering country.

One crazy fact is that they only get $3 for each 25lb basket!

It was a very hands-on experience which our tour guide, Justin, allowed us to crack our own cacao beans and touch them. My personal favorite part was making our very own chocolate bars. We had cacao seeds that we grinded. The faster you grind, the more friction is created allowing the chocolate to become richer and smoother. We had to use our own measurements so everyone was doing their own and it was fun to see how different all of our chocolate bars tasted the next day! Overall, this day was one of my favorite parts of the trip as a chocolate lover!