The family farm in Costa Rica, where cacao is crafted with patience
- Mar 18
- 2 min read
After Guatemala, Jera's journey continued to the lush lands of Costa Rica, where he visited a second cacao farm. The experience there carried a completely different energy, yet it was equally profound. Where Kampura is expansive and held by many hands, this place was small, intimate, and deeply personal.
Here, one family tends the land: a couple and their children, together forming the third generation devoted to the care of this farm. It is cacao held within lineage.
Small-scale, with deep attention
Production here is modest. The work follows traditional ways, slower, quieter, with fewer machines guiding the process. This also means the yield is smaller than on larger farms. But what reveals itself instead is something far more subtle: a deep, unwavering presence in every step.
From harvest to fermentation to drying, everything is done by hand. The pace is gentle… yet the connection to the cacao is profound.
A farmer who built his own machines
What makes this farm even more special is the spirit of creativity carried by the farmer. Long before YouTube or online learning existed, he felt the call to build his own cacao machines. With curiosity as his guide, he designed and created tools to roast, peel, and grind cacao. Each piece was born through trial, patience, and beginning again.
What now stands is a humble, self-built cacao workshop. A meeting place of tradition and invention.
The magic of cacao honey
One of the most beautiful discoveries here lives within the cacao fruit itself. When cacao is harvested, a soft white pulp surrounds each bean. Often, this is simply discarded. But here, nothing is seen as waste.
The farmer gathers the juice of the cacao fruit and slowly cooks it down into a rich, golden syrup. Something he calls cacao honey.
With this, he creates chocolate that remains, in essence, 100% cacao, yet carries a gentle, natural sweetness. The sweetness comes not from anything added, but from the fruit of the very same plant. It's a quiet reminder: everything the cacao needs, it already holds within.
Cacao wine
The cacao honey is given a second life. Through fermentation, the syrup transforms into a kind of cacao wine. A living drink that rests somewhere between kombucha, wine, and vinegar. Its taste is unlike anything easily named. It was something Jera had never encountered before, and he carries a small amount home, to share its story.
The beauty of small
What this farm revealed to Jera most clearly is the quiet strength of small-scale creation.
Here, cacao is not produced, it is cared for. With time. With attention. With the wisdom of family tradition. Every step carries the imprint of three generations. And perhaps… that is the most beautiful flavor cacao can offer.
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