Written by Nikki Solano

Nikki is the CEO of Pura Vida! eh? Inc. (Costa Rica Discounts), and the author of the guidebooks Moon Costa Rica (2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025 editions) and Moon Best of Costa Rica (2022 edition) from Moon Travel Guides. Together with her Costa Rican husband, Ricky, she operates the Costa Rica Travel Blog, created the online community DIY Costa Rica, built the Costa Rica Destination Tool, oversees the brand-new (summer 2023) Costa Rica Travel Shop, and designed the Costa Rica Trip Planning 101 E-Course. Also, Nikki wrote the Costa Rica cover feature for Wanderlust Magazine's sustainability-focused Travel Green List issue, showcased Costa Rica destinations and experiences on Rick Steves' Monday Night Travel show and podcast/radio show, and served as the Costa Rica Destination Editor for Essentialist, a luxury travel brand. Want to show your appreciation for her free article below? Thank Nikki here. ❤️️

WANT TO SAVE MONEY IN COSTA RICA?

Our sister site, Pura Vida! eh? Inc., has discounts for coffee, chocolate tours, food tours, and plantation tours. Con mucho gusto (you’re welcome) and pura vida!

🙂

IMPORTANT: This article is part of our Memorable Costa Rica series.

The revered Latin American female writer Isabel Allende once advised: “Write what should not be forgotten.” Inspired by the quote’s brevity and the subject matter of lasting significance, the articles in our Memorable Costa Rica series are concise and highlight what we feel are the most memorable aspects of featured Costa Rica experiences. If you don’t want to waste time rereading the repeated facts and long-drawn-out paraphrased summaries that some other Costa Rica resources offer, then the personal briefs in our Memorable Costa Rica series are perfect for you. Use them to discover the unique qualities and unforgettable moments that we believe each Costa Rica experience provides, so you can easily decide which experiences are worth incorporating into your trip, and in only five minutes or less. 👍🏽

Estimated reading time for this article: 4 minutes

El Toledo Coffee brief

El Toledo Coffee isn’t your average coffee plantation. It’s a small-scale coffee farm run by three generations of a welcoming Costa Rican family with big hearts. Here, among the fertile hills of Atenas (roughly 40 minutes west of downtown San Jose), you can spend time with grandpa (Don Gerardo), grandma (Doña Sole), dad and lead tour guide (Gabriel), Gabriel’s helpful daughters, and other members of the family while learning how coffee is made on a coffee tour. (The coffee tour at El Toledo Coffee is a family-friendly walking tour to coffee production stations around the farm’s walkable grounds.) Although El Toledo Coffee produces delicious organic coffee, the most impressive thing about the operation is the family’s commitment to sustainable coffee farming. At this particular coffee farm, trees aren’t cut down to create space for manufacturing, there is no use of harsh chemicals, which can harm the environment (not to mention the health of coffee consumers), and coffee production is zero-waste. (Ask how El Toledo Coffee repurposes discarded coffee fruit to create coffee tea, coffee juice, coffee wine, and coffee marmalade.) What’s more, Gabriel’s passion for environmental conservation and his family’s efforts in this realm, as well as his interest in sharing what he has learned with curious folks, is heartwarming and inspiring. In a world where coffee has become synonymous with the commercial success of Starbucks, Tim Hortons, and other popular chains, El Toledo Coffee‘s authentic, age-old perspective toward coffee production (evidenced in part by the farm’s use of rudimentary, hand-operated equipment) is a refreshing cup of humility that trades pomp and frills for simplicity and sustainability. Go for a taste of the home brew or a whole new outlook on how one of the world’s most desirable products, coffee, can and should be produced in gentler ways.

El Toledo Coffee photos

Map of the El Toledo Coffee farm

More information about El Toledo Coffee

For more information about El Toledo Coffee, including reservations for their coffee tours, please see the coffee farm’s website.

Have questions about El Toledo Coffee?

We’re happy to answer your questions! Please see our forum below to submit your question.

Pura vida! 🙂

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