Monteverde Shopping
Coffee Tour
You will be able to walk through to the coffee farm of Santa Elena Cooperative that was created in 1989 as the first sustainable coffee plantation of Costa Rica. This plantation produces one of the best coffees at the World. The ride starts with a historical overview of Santa Elena and Monteverde which explains how the first inhabitants amongst who were settlers, farmers and scientists were established in jungle and created the plantation. Then you will walk for the crops and will be able to see working environment of the cooperative as well as the plantations of coffee, orange, banana and lime .Continuing the tour you will be able to watch how coffee beans arrives to the cooperative and then they are roasted and processed for export.
The tour includes a visit to a recycling plant of role which handled by women of san Luis. With the recycled paper the women makes bags, cards and notebook. Back to the plantation you will be able to take a little coffee and if you want; you could buy a little coffee beans to bring to home and help to support the farms families and the environment that sustains them.
Cooperativa de Artesanas de Santa Elena y Montverde(CASEM)
This non profit cooperative is handled by artist women of the zone and was created in 1982 for to create employment opportunities to women of this city .Thanks to the cooperative, it has been possible to finance business and artistic training of cooperative’s members and also to build new workshops for them. The cooperative has got a shop store which is located next to café Monteverde Coffe Shop. In the store there are many different products like hangings, ceramics, jewels, toys, clothes, handbags, and wood carving handicrafts. All works are inspired by the jungle of Monteverde. The cooperative’s members recive 65% of the sale price, the remainder is reinvested in the business.
Actually the cooperative works in a building constructed in 1987 on land donated by Santa Elena cooperative, there you will be able to find the workshops and a gallery where the products are exhibited. You can visit CASEM from Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00.
Cheese Factory
The cheese of Monteverde no doubt is the most famous in Costa Rica; the reason is this factory that is situated in the centre of the community. The factory was founded in 1953 by a group of Quaker families from Alabama; at the beginning the factory produced only between 8 and 10 Kg of cheese per day and had 2 workers for it the factory used milk from Quaker families’ farms. The company was growing and actually works with 160 workers, 250 farms and produces 1550 Kg daily. Following trend of Monteverde community, the factory has established a water treatment and waste management system which allows using the whey by product surplus in the local farms. Walking into factory you will be able to see and buy (if you want) a impressive variety of dairy products like cream, milk, ice cream, milkshake, cheese (obviously) besides local products like cured meats, hams, caramels and sausages. The Gouda cheese is the most representative but the factory produces 17 distinct varieties like Monte Rico, Emmental, Swiss, cheese smoked provolone, smoked with coffee and others.
Another symbol product of the enterprise is the ice cream which is sold to all country and exported mainly to Central American nations. The different varieties of ice cream are made using mainly fruits flavors like mango, orange, banana, and pineapple. Nevertheless the coffee and chocolate flavors are also very popular. There are bilingual tours every day from 9:00 to 14:00 and admission cost $8 for adults and $6 for students and kids.
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