Tea, Coffee & Cocoa Route

Description Tea, coffee and cocoa route in Cusco

With the tour “Tea, coffee and cocoa route in Cusco”, you can visit the tea, coffee and cocoa fields, learn about the processes from the grain to the tasting. In addition, we will enjoy learning more about the colonial calls that are currently known as tea, coffee and cocoa protagonists of everyday eating habits.

TEA is the most consumed beverage in the world, surpassed only by water. COFFEE, on the other hand, is not far behind: in different preparations and with different qualities and blends, it is drunk on all continents. As is COCOA, which is drunk in a cup and eaten as chocolate. Coffee, cocoa and tea are proper foods, concentrated in antioxidant substances and phenolic compounds that have more than one benefit for our health, they are therefore considered much more than stimulating substances capable of acting on our nervous system.

Coffee originated in Africa and was spread by Muslim and Christian monasteries along the trade routes from Ethiopia and Sudan to Arabia and Yemen and from there to Europe and the whole world. Cocoa, on the other hand, originated in Mesoamerica and spread to the Old World thanks to the Spanish through Christian monasteries and European courts. From Europe, it conquered the rest of the world. Both crops grow in an imaginary band on the Equator, between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, known as the “coffee belt”, but also as the “cocoa belt” or “chocolate belt”.

Although they generate different sensations, both coffee and cocoa have positive effects on our brain. Through caffeine or theobromine, both promote concentration and memory, help us stay alert and combat feelings of anxiety and fatigue.

Both have a great complexity of aromas and flavors. A good coffee tends towards acidity and cocoa has the most delicious bitter flavors in nature. Together, they give us a feast of flavor for the palate.

MAIN POINTS OF VISIT

• Cusco (3,390 masl)
• Abra Málaga (4,200 masl)
• Huyro (1,524 masl)
• Huayopata (1,650 masl)

Day 1: Cusco – Abra Malaga – Huayopata- Ipal Eco Lodge

• 07.00 hrs Pick up at your hotel. We will go to the jungle area of the city, we will pass the highest point in the Abra Malaga and descend gradually to the route of tea, coffee and chocolate.
• We will make a stop at the viewpoint of the Huayopata valley, this district is characterized by diverse ecological floors with microclimates that favor the development of diversified agriculture, for this reason it has become the first producer of tea in the domestic market, with a quality recognized internationally.
• Its capital is the town of Huyro (1,524 meters above sea level). It has eight life zones, each one with its respective climatological characteristics, being this a potential factor for agricultural diversification, from tropical crops (fruit trees, coffee, tea, coca, etc.) to high Andean crops.
• 11.30 hrs Arrival to our Ipal Eco Lodge, accommodation in their cabins. Lunch.
• 14.00 hrs We will visit the tea plantations, the picturesque hacienda of Triunfo and tea crops, in Huayopata is the emblematic plant that covers 55% of agricultural production and the only place in Peru with 90% of cultivation. This is the daily work done by the farmer who cultivates in plots since 100 years ago and currently follow the process of harvesting and industrialization, obtaining varieties such as: tea-mate for consumption, black tea, green tea and white tea, each with a different aroma and pure.
• We will also participate in the phases of cultivation, processing and industrialization. We visit the tea factories, observation of the process, then the artisan tea processing rooms. Tasting of this rich product.
• Optional, bird watching in the forest trails at night.

Albergue: IPAL ECO LODGE

DESAYUNO – HOTEL / ALMUERZO y CENA – AGENCIA

Day 2: Ipal Eco Lodge – Bear Waterfall – Cusco

• Very early in the morning we will go to the Catarata del Oso waterfall, waterfall of a height of 75 meters, located in the sector of Sicre, which is reached by road, to continue with a walk that lasts approximately 35 minutes, the name of this beautiful waterfall is due, because in this sector is a habitat of spectacled bears. In this Waterfall of Scenic Beauty we will observe birds of the area: the Cock of the Rock, Blue-collared Tanager, Blue-necked Tanager, Golden-headed Quetzal, Trogons and Mountain Watchers.
• After this show, we will return to the lodge for the High Jungle Tropical Breakfast. After breakfast we will head to the coffee growing areas. We will visit the coffee plantations, the way they work and we will see the types of coffee that are elaborated as well as the tasting of the final product.
• 12.00 hrs Lunch at the Lodge. Then we will visit the field of cocoa plantations. We will see the cocoa harvesting process, the process of elaboration of chocolates and cocoa paste (liquor, butter, instant and cocoa powder).
  Tasting of cocoa-based products, then we will board the transport to return to the city of Cusco. Transfer to your hotel.
• NOTE – April – July (harvest). August – March (pruning of coffee trees, flowering and drying).

BREAKFAST and LUNCH – AGENCY / DINNER – PASSENGER