Chocolate Making Class Puerto Viejo: Bean to Bar

Make your own chocolate from the cacao bean up

A hands-on chocolate making class in Puerto Viejo where you roast, crack, grind, temper and mould cacao beans into a finished bar you take home. The 2.5-hour class covers the history of cacao in Mesoamerica, the medicinal uses of chocolate, and every stage of small-batch production—you'll work alongside living cacao trees and taste the fruit at different stages of processing. Minimum age is 15; the class runs in English or Spanish with a live guide.

The Experience

In 2.5 hours you move through the entire chocolate-making process, from raw cacao fruit to a wrapped bar. The class starts beside living cacao trees in the working bean-to-bar chocolate house in Puerto Viejo, where you'll see how the tropical fruit grows and what shapes its flavour before you ever step into the workshop. Unlike plantation tours or demonstrations, every participant completes every stage yourself—roasting, cracking, winnowing, grinding, refining, tempering and moulding. You'll taste cacao in different forms as you go: fresh fruit when in season, fermented and dried beans, roasted cacao and finished chocolate.

The workshop teaches you how each step transforms flavour, texture and aroma. You'll learn the medicinal uses of chocolate and make a refreshing cacao tea drink to try during the class. Water is available throughout. By the end you'll have tempered molten chocolate and moulded your own bar to wrap and take home—the thing you made, not a souvenir someone else prepared.

You'll get chocolate on you. This is a real hands-on experience, not a walkthrough. The class runs in English or Spanish with a live guide, and the minimum age is 15. Public transportation options are available near the chocolate house. You also get 10% off all food purchases at the venue on the same day.

What’s included

• Hands-on instruction through every stage of chocolate-making from bean to finished bar.
• tasting of cacao fruit (when in season), fermented and dried beans, roasted cacao and chocolate.
• a refreshing medicinal cacao tea drink and water.
• the chocolate bar you make yourself.
• 10% off all food purchases at the venue on the same day.

Good to know

Pets welcomePublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Talamanca Chocolate

Is this one for you?Book this class if you want to understand how chocolate actually gets made instead of watching someone else do it—you'll roast, grind and temper the beans yourself and leave with a bar you made from start to finish.

Traveler reviews

4.83★★★★★★★★★★

99 verified traveler reviews

5 ★90

4 ★5

3 ★1

2 ★2

1 ★1

Read all the reviews ›

Top questions

What does the cacao fruit actually look like when you're making chocolate?

Fresh cacao fruit is available to try when in season, so you'll taste it at the start of the class. You'll also taste fermented and dried beans, roasted cacao and chocolate at different stages, so you can taste how each step changes the flavour.

Do I make a full-size chocolate bar or just a small sample?

You make your own chocolate bar using the same small-batch methods the chocolate house uses every day. You temper freshly poured molten chocolate and mould it yourself, then wrap it to take home.

How much time do I spend actually making chocolate versus learning about it?

The 2.5-hour class moves through the history and culture of cacao, the medicinal uses of chocolate, and then every stage of the chocolate-making process—roasting, grinding, tempering and moulding. You're working hands-on through all of it, not watching a demonstration.

Is there a minimum age for the chocolate making class?

The minimum age is 15. The class runs in English or Spanish with a live guide.

What happens if fresh cacao fruit isn't in season when I take the class?

You'll always taste fermented and dried beans, roasted cacao and chocolate. Fresh cacao fruit is tried when in season, but the full chocolate-making process and tasting of cacao at different stages happens regardless.