Tio Leão Coffee Tour

An absolute highlight of our trip! We visited this wonderful family-run plantation today and were blown away by the hosts' passion for coffee, chocolate, and local food. Tio is incredibly knowledgeable and funny, teaching us about coffee in a way that keeps you completely captivated. We loved cooking delicious empanadas with his lovely wife while sampling their fresh coffee, mango juice, and homemade chocolate drink. Tio also explained the traditional sugar cane extraction process and had us actively participate in pressing our own fresh juice to taste at the end. The backyard plantation walk was highly educational, showing us how the surrounding trees protect and enrich the coffee crop. Roasting our own coffee at the very end was an amazing hands-on touch! This couple’s dedication is unmatched, and the atmosphere is priceless. We can't wait to return! Thank you for a great experience, your Canadian tourists :)

One of my absolute favorite tours from our trip! This is so much more than just a coffee tour. The family is incredibly sweet and welcoming, and they make you feel like a guest in their home while sharing the history and tradition of coffee production in Costa Rica. Learning about the entire process was fascinating, and the homemade chocolate, empanadas, and fresh sugarcane were an amazing bonus. Everything felt authentic, personal, and never rushed or overly touristy. We enjoyed the coffee so much that when I’m back in the States, this is where I’ll be ordering mine from. Such a memorable experience and one I would absolutely recommend!

We had a fabulous time with Tio Leo and Dona Myrna! The tour is highly informative, full of hands-on demonstrations and tasty snacks! Tio Leo leads you on a historical and scientific lecture to learn about Costa Rica's relationship with coffee, cacao and sugarcane. Throughout the tour, we were served delicious pour-over coffee, made our own rice and bean empanadas, ground roasted cacao beans to mix into cacao water and chocolate milk, and squeezed our own sugarcane juice. My sister and I were considering canceling our tour due to lack of transportation from Penninsula Papagayo, but a review on here persuaded us to continue with the tour. We are soooo glad we did and consider it to be one of the highlights of our Costa Rica trip. In case anybody needs help with transportation, Tio Leo is willing to call a taxi to pick you up from your hotel and drop you off if necessary. We also stocked up on locally-made souvenirs while we were there. We bought bags of their locally-grown and roasted coffee and cacao beans, as well as soaps made from cacao. The prices were very reasonable (as an American) and it feels wonderful to support a local business and family.

We had a absolutely lovely day with the whole team at TioLeo coffee tour. We went with our 2 kids who also enjoyed the tour - they went out of their way to include them in everything, which they really loved. We were a small group and so had an amazing personal touch. Leo is exceptionally knowledgeable and we genuinely appreciated our experience there. An amazing team and could not recommend more!

We had the best time cooking and walking the fruit trees, coffee and chocolate plants. What an amazing experience! Thank you for the wonderful tour!

If you are anywhere near Liberia (we drove 1 hr. 15 mins. from Tamarindo), but it’s very close to the Liberia airport, this is an absolute must do! Fun for the whole family ages 13, 15, 24, 39 and 50! The 24 year old said it was the “best day ever” and even the teens were having fun! The place is very unassuming and looks like a tourist trap when you pull in, but it’s just an amazing, small family run business. The price is extremely reasonable for the experience! We learned so much about coffee, chocolate, sugar cane and various fruits and trees/ plants. Tio Leo is so knowledgeable and passionate about what he does! We tried many different things, not just the coffee and cacao and the empanadas were delicious! Highly recommend this adventure, it is 3.5 hours full of info and experience! Muchas gracias Tio Leo and team!

Tio Leo and his team offered us a great afternoon which combined coffee, chocolate, sugar cane and empanada experiences followed by a tour of the wonderful flora and fauna of their finca. Loved it!

If you are looking for an absolute diamond in the rough on your vacation to Costa Rica, this is it. Easily was our favorite thing we experienced in Costa Rica. Tio Leo is an exceptional tour guide. He was extremely knowledgeable, so much fun, and was pretty hilarious too! The tour was about four and a half hours of laughter, some amazing history, and great food/drinks. We got our hands dirty engaging in various stages of coffee and cacao processing. The walk through his garden was one of our biggest highlights. Hands down would recommend this experience to anyone and everyone coming to Costa Rica! And we would likely come back just to hang with our new Uncle Leo on our next trip through.

+8

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This was one of the best experiences of our trip to Costa Rica! Tio Leo is incredibly knowledgeable and does an amazing job teaching about Costa Rican culture, coffee, and chocolate in a way that’s both fun and engaging. We learned so much and left with a much deeper appreciation for the country and its traditions. The hands-on activities were a highlight, especially learning how to make delicious empanadas. Everything felt authentic, interactive, and welcoming. We highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting the Liberia area

Informative tour about the history and making of coffee and chocolate along with making empanadas to eat and taste testing coffee and chocolate. Fun filled experience with a cocoa exfoliating session for our arms and hands.

+2