When we’re traveling, I post my little travelogues on the go and off the cuff. Instagram only allows 2,200 characters per post, so I have to be stingy with words. Maybe that’s a good thing. 😉 One of the reasons I started this blog is so I can take a pause after our trips, and look at something(s) more in depth.

One of my favorite things to do when we travel is to explore the local drinks (alcoholic and not) situation. I could spend hours in the local grocery/wine/liquor store just studying the shelves. Ken is not as enthusiastic about this activity, so I usually send him off to climb a mountain or something.

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Without further delay, here is my Costa Rica drinks report:

Guaro

Guaro is Costa Rica’s national drink. It’s a clear spirit, distilled from sugar cane juice, belonging to the aguardiente (aka “burning water”) family. It has a fairly neutral flavor with a slightly sweet finish. Guaro is used in a mierda-ton of cocktails in Costa Rica, but it’s not especially good as a solo sipper.

Colada Fresca & Coco Loco

Most cocktails in Costa Rica seem to be spins on the classics – made with guaro. I’m a big fan of coconut and pineapple, so I ordered colada fresca and coco loco whenever I could – but I never did figure out which was which. All of the restaurants had their own interpretations – kind of like guaro roulette — you never knew exactly what you were going to get.

A textbook colada fresca is a riff on the piña colada, made with guaro. Definitely pineapple forward. It’s actually pretty delicious – not as heavy as some piña coladas can be.

Apparently, all you need to make a traditional coco loco is guaro, a coconut, and a machete. Just whack the top of the coconut off and add guaro. Voila! The coco locos I ordered were never served in a coconut. Disappointing. But they were delicious.

Weird Drinks

Ordered a margarita at a cafe, and got this blue-green situation. Asked (en Español) what flavor it was and the waitress told me, “blue flavor”. I know my Spanish is bad, but I’m sure I didn’t say I wanted a blue flavored margarita. It was a weird drink.

Imperial Beer

Imperial is the most popular beer in Costa Rica. It’s nothing special – a pretty standard beer flavored beer, but a great foil to Costa Rica’s oppressive heat and humidity. We went through quite a few of these guys at the house.

Wine

The wine situation is Costa Rica was preetttyyy bad. I ducked into a couple of grocery stores, and the shelves were dominated by cheap Chilean wines. Some Argentinian wines. And a dusty bottle of Barefoot. Hard pass. Stick with guaro and Imperial.

Coffee

Costa Rica is very proud of its coffee, and for good reason — it’s delicious. Coffee is a major export for Costa Rica, and very important for the country’s economy. I wish we could have visited a coffee plantation, but they are all up in the mountains, and we were near the beach. Raincheck.

Chocolate

On a visit to an organic spice farm north of Queupos, we had the opportunity to see and taste raw cacao beans. They were weirdly slimy and nutty. Also got a cup of hot cacao (which is suuuuuper refreshing when it’s 114 degrees outside). But I still managed to drink every last drop of mine.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola in Costa Rica is made with pure cane sugar (instead of the high-fructose corn syrup we use here in the US). I switched (grudgingly) to Diet Coke a few years ago. I don’t especially like it, but I don’t need the extra calories. It’s just a caffeine delivery system for me. That said, if the opportunity to have a real sugar Coke presents itself, I splurge. It just tastes better.

Salud!