Travel Log: Hacienda Alsacia Coffee Farm, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica

If you follow me on Instagram you saw that I recently spent about a week in Costa Rica (9 days including travel days) with three of my dearest friends. Our itinerary included one night in San Jose to reset after redeye flights and ~12 hours total travel time from Seattle, two nights in Quepos to explore Manuel Antonio National Park (you can click on the links to read the posts), a stop at the stunning Starbucks Hacienda Alsacia Coffee Farm, two nights at the stunning Tabacón Resort & Spa near La Fortuna and Arenal Volcano that included a nature walk at the Mistico Hanging Bridges, and three nights in Guanacaste before flying home from the Liberia Guanacaste airport. Our longest transit day was on day four of our trip, when we drove from Quepos on the Pacific coast (south of San Jose) to the La Fortuna area on the north side of Arenal volcano. Drive time for this 178 mile journey (286 km) is between 5-6 hours depending on route and traffic, so our driver proposed we stop midway to visit the "Starbucks coffee farm." My ears perked up when I heard this, being a former Starbucks partner for ten years (2012-2022) I had been at the company when Starbucks purchased this farm in 2013 and when the visitor's center opened in 2018, but had not yet had a chance to visit and I did not think we would have time this trip. What a pleasant surprise! Please continue scrolling to see photos and more details on our visit to the Starbucks Hacienda Alsacia Coffee farm.

Hacienda Alsacia Coffee Farm is located approximately halfway from Quepos (where Manuel Antonio National Park is located) and La Fortuna area (where we stayed at the stunning Tabacon Thermal Resort & Spa, more on that next week), making it an ideal stop to get out of the van, stretch our legs, and enjoy a cup of coffee with a bite to eat. If you are staying in San Jose, it looked like it was about 45 minutes' drive depending on traffic. This coffee farm has a large visitor center and cafe that is open every day from 8am-6pm with tours and experiences available to book between 8am-4pm. The tours are 90 minutes long, and we very much wanted to get to the hot springs resort, so we chose to visit the cafe to order drinks and food as well as pick up some coffee beans and a t-shirt as souvenirs. If you do visit and book the tour, you will learn all about how Starbucks is seeking to combat climate change and coffee rust (a fungus that destroys arabica coffee trees) by developing and distributing coffee rust resistant seedlings to farmers around the world free of charge and without any obligation to sell coffee to Starbucks. As a former partner and self proclaimed coffee fiend who certainly wants to continue drinking coffee in the years to come, I think this is amazing.

I decided to try Hacienda Alsacia's signature coffee drink: espresso with sparkling water and orange. It was light, refreshing, and delicious! I also ordered a chipotle chicken panini and we sat down to enjoy the views. My girlfriends ordered iced lattes and several sandwiches and we all agreed that our choices were tasty lunch options. The atmosphere reminded me of a winery with the patio and scenic views of the coffee trees and waterfall in the side of the hill. It actually brought back memories of having lunch at Tokara Winery in Stellenbosch, South Africa back in 2016. Really great food, drinks, vibes, service. 

Finally, I thought I would share details on this casual outfit that I wore while visiting Hacienda Alsacia Coffee Farm in case anyone is interested. The weather was warm and humid when we left the Pacific Coast, upper 80's F (~30 deg C), so this cropped linen shirt and denim shorts combo was a comfortable choice for a long travel day. The outfit is rounded out by flip flops, a super cute raffia bag, very little makeup, and mosquito bracelets. I mentioned in my Manuel Antonio travel log that the mosquitos in Costa Rica were tiny and sneaky! I cannot prove that these citronella bracelets helped, but after the dozen or so bites at the national park I wore these every day and I did not get bit again. Because of that, I am going to keep wearing them during mosquito-filled Seattle summer camping/hiking season and beyond.

Cropped Button-up Shirt: exact here (in case they restock)
Denim shorts: exact here or here
Flip Flops: exact here
Raffia Bag: exact here

Necklace: exact here
Mosquito Repellent Bracelets: exact here

I hope you enjoyed this recap of my visit to the Starbucks Hacienda Alsacia Coffee Farm! Visiting this farm and visitor's center was an unexpected surprise and I am so glad we were able to stop on our way from the Pacific coast to the La Fortuna area. As a coffee fan, I very much enjoyed trying their coffee and purchasing beans to take home. Have you been to Costa Rica or is it on your travel list? If so, have you or would you visit a coffee farm? Please be sure to leave me a comment to let me know. Thank you for visiting my blog today and I hope you have a fabulous rest of your week.