Coffee Tourism in Latin America

These days, many people are traveling to places specifically to learn about the food and drink they consume on a regular basis back home. Whether exploring a favorite wine region or a cherished food, the choices are vast.

And now, coffee lovers can do likewise throughout Latin America. The good news is that coffee tourism exists all throughout the region in the form of tastings and tours. You can even stay at an inn or B&B where the beans for the coffee you sip at breakfast came from the bushes right outside your window.

Author Joshua Berman covers many coffee-oriented activities in his guidebook Moon Nicaragua, and regularly travels through Central America, often in pursuit of coffee attractions. In Nicaragua, he appreciates the beauty and tranquility of the northern highlands around Esteli and Matagalpa, where the best quality coffee is planted on the steep, wet slopes.

It’s easy for travelers to create their own Ruta de Cafe by connecting the dots between coffee fincas (farm) and cooperatives.
— Author Joshua Berman, who covers many coffee-oriented activities in his guidebook "Moon Nicaragua"

Though a number of travel companies and regions offer mapped-out routes for coffee lovers who want to spend the day wandering from one plantation to the next, he suggests coffee aficionados guide themselves.

“It’s easy for travelers to create their own Ruta de Cafe by connecting the dots between coffee fincas (farm) and cooperatives,” says Berman. “You can stay with a poor coffee-picking family, or you can rent a room where international coffee buyers usually stay after the harvest and base your tour from there.”

Peru, Costa Rica, Brazil, and of course Colombia are just a few of the other countries where coffee lovers can learn a little more about what’s in their cups every morning.

For a list of can't-miss coffee tourism spots, click here.

Lisa Rogak is a freelance writer and New York Times Bestselling author. Her latest book is "And Nothing But The Truthiness: The Rise (and Further Rise) of Stephen Colbert.