Medellín Chocolate Tour: Cocoa Farm & Make Your Own Chocolate

Watch cocoa beans turn into chocolate in your own hands, one hour outside Medellín

You get picked up from your Medellín hotel and driven to a family cocoa farm in Copacabana, where you pick, ferment, dry, roast and grind cocoa beans yourself. You taste the chocolate at every stage and make your own to take home, plus eat fresh farm fruits and pandequeso. The whole day is about six hours, and you leave with chocolate you made and a clearer picture of how much work goes into a single bar.

Options for this experience

3 options

From US$ 135 per person, depending on the option and date you choose.See dates & book

Chocolate tour private 6 departure times: the first at 07:30, the last at 11:00 Guide in English or Spanish Up to 15 people Private tour for just you and your party, the best way to learn more. Pickup is included.

Chocolate and coffee tour 07:30, 08:00, 08:30 and 09:00 Guide in English or Spanish Up to 4 people Coffee tour: We will visit a coffee farm in the same area as the cocoa farm; getting there requires walking uphill. Private tour. Duration: 9 hours. The full cacao and coffee experience lasts around 8.5 to 9 hours. Lunch is included: you'll enjoy a typical Colombian meal, "Fiambre", which you can swap for Tamal, with a vegetarian option available. Uphill hike to the coffee farm: before booking, keep in mind that the walk uphill is around 900 ft (300 meters), since there is no car access to the coffee farm. Pickup is included.

Chocolate tour shared 08:00 Guide in English or Spanish Up to 2 people Shared tour for small groups: a minimum of 2 people is required to run the tour, and you will receive confirmation the day before. Pickup is included.

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Step-by-step itinerary

Cocoa farm visit and chocolate making

• Pick up at lodging
• Drive 1 hour to cocoa farm
• Visit family cocoa farm
• Pick and peel cocoa
• Ferment and dry cocoa
• Roast and grind cocoa
• Mold chocolate
• Taste hot chocolate and cocoa products
• Make chocolates to buy

What’s included

Your day includes hotel pickup in Medellín in an air-conditioned vehicle, the one-hour drive to the cocoa farm in Copacabana, the full chocolate-making experience from picking to molding, chocolate in different varieties to taste, fresh fruits from the farm, pandequeso, and the chocolate you make yourself, which you can purchase to take home.

Times

• Every day 07:30 08:00 08:30 09:00 10:00 11:00

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Before you book

Group Up to 15

Live guide English and Spanish

Meeting point and pickup Hotel pickup included.

Book up to 4h before

Ages Adult (4 to 80 years) · Under 4: can't be booked

Cancellation and refunds Free cancellation up to 24 h before the start. After that, no refund. It may be canceled due to bad weather. If that happens, you're offered another date or a refund.

Good to know

Moderate physical effort Not recommended with heart problems Not recommended with back problems

Operated by Tourguides Medellín

Prices and times updated yesterday

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The experience

The smell hits you first: earthy, a little sharp, nothing like the chocolate you know. You're standing in a small family farm in Copacabana, just outside Medellín, and the cocoa pods are split open on a wooden table in front of you. A farmer hands you one and shows you how to scrape the beans out with your thumb. This is where the day starts, and it's nothing like watching a video about it. The farm grows cocoa, coffee, avocado, yuca and flowers all on the same plot, and you're about to learn why the process takes so long.

The chocolate tour walks you through every step (picking, peeling, fermenting, drying, roasting, grinding, molding), and you do most of it yourself. After the pickup from your hotel in Medellín (the ride takes about an hour), you spend the rest of the day with the farmers who still work the way their families have for generations. They show you how to ferment the beans in banana leaves, how long they need to dry in the sun, what the beans smell like when they're ready to roast. You roast them, grind them into paste, taste the cocoa nibs raw and bitter. Then you make hot chocolate the traditional way, thick and rich, nothing like the instant kind.

The best part is that you make chocolate to take home, not a souvenir, but something you actually made, molded by your hands, using beans you picked that morning. You taste different varieties: hot chocolate, cocoa paste, cocoa nibs. The farm gives you fruits from the land and pandequeso, a local cheese bread, so you're eating while you work. By the end of the day you understand why cocoa farmers do this work, and you have something real to show for it.

Top questions

What languages is the tour guided in?

Live guide in English and Spanish.

What happens if it rains?

It may be canceled due to bad weather. If that happens, you're offered another date or a refund. Free cancellation up to 24 h before the start.

How long is the chocolate tour from Medellín?

About six hours total, including the one-hour drive each way to the farm in Copacabana.

What's included in the tour?

Hotel pickup in Medellín, the farm visit, chocolate in different varieties, fruits from the farm, pandequeso, and the chocolate you make yourself.

Do I need experience to make chocolate?

No. The farmers teach you each step, from picking the cocoa pods to grinding and molding the chocolate.

Can I buy the chocolate I make?

Yes, you can buy the chocolate you make during the tour to take home.

Is the tour physically demanding?

It requires moderate fitness. The tour is not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries or poor cardiovascular health.

What's the farm like?

It's a small family operation that grows cocoa, coffee, avocado, yuca and flowers. You work alongside the farmers and see how they live.