Touring Cafe Gran Batey Coffee Farm - Utuado, Puerto Rico

Cafe Gran Batey is a small, family-run coffee farm tucked into the Puerto Rican jungles west of Utuado. During our vacation to Puerto Rico in November 2020, we stayed nearby at the Caonillas Lake View House, and Taylor and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tour the farm while we were close by.

We went on a Saturday afternoon and arrived at the perfect time!

​Read more about our entire road trip around Puerto Rico is this more detailed blog post here!

​After walking through the open, iron gates, Taylor noticed the green and red berries hanging from the trees on the property’s boundary. We had never seen coffee trees before, so we marveled at the little clusters of berries on the palm-like trees before walking up to the cafe. ​

Fresh coffee beans on the tree.

We waved to a gentleman who was sitting in the shade outside, and then we walked inside and discovered a busy lady serving coffee, cornbread, and carrot cake to a family of visitors.

The small cafe on the farm.

​The father of the visiting family immediately began speaking with us in English (our blonde hair really made us stand out it Puerto Rico!). He let us know that the woman, Lotty, serving the cake and coffee would be our tour guide around the farm, and Lotty doesn’t speak English. ​

​This did not deter our interest, because the father of the family offered to translate as we toured the farm! It was so kind of him. 

Taylor and I accepted his gracious offer as Lotty served us a cup of coffee each. The delicious coffee only stoked our excitement for the upcoming tour.

The tour starts with a cup of espresso and a piece of cake!

Freshly picked beans ready for cleaning.

​Lotty took us all around the farm, and described the entire coffee-making process from start to finish. Red and Green coffee beans are picked from coffee trees before being stripped of their first two layers. ​

After several rounds of peeling and cleaning through their big machines, the beans are moved into an extremely hot greenhouse to dry. The beans are spread out onto screen tables that are designed to ultimately catch only usable, dried coffee beans. ​

One of Cafe Gran Batey's coffee bean cleaning machines

Their drying house where they use the sun to bake a layer of the beans off.

Finally, the beans are aged and roasted before they’re packaged or ground.

After the tour, Lotty gave Taylor and I permission to walk the grounds of the farm. We explored rows of coffee trees, found oranges and bananas, and talked about what we had just learned. ​

As we approached the cafe, we began talking with the eldergy gentleman whom we’d waved to earlier. ​

Some of their fresh bananas on the farm.

He was Lotty’s husband and owner of the Gran Batey Coffee Farm. He told us about growing up on the farm, working away from home, then returning to run the farm as his own. The man had done an incredible amount of work in his life and it showed. He and Lotty had grown the farm’s business to the point of partnership with major coffee brands, but the work was wearing on him. He still loved the place, but you could tell it was hard on him. ​

John walking through their farm.

​Taylor and I left Gran Batey Coffee Farm with our heads full of new knowledge, experiences, and stories. A gorgeous, productive farm and its owners had given us more than we could have expected. ​

​Not only had Lotty served our coffee and given the tour, she had earned our business. We ordered a 5 pound bag of coffee beans to be delivered to our home in Colorado before continuing our adventure around Puerto Rico and we bought a bag of ground beans to enjoy at our Airbnb.

Our 5lb bag of coffee that was shipped home to us!

We will be drinking Cafe Gran Batey coffee for a long time to come, and we are very excited!

We bought some to drink at our Airbnb with our breakfasts and it was perfect!

See more from our entire tour of Cafe Gran Batey in our YouTube video here!

Check out more of our blog posts from Puerto Rico below!

See More of What We Did In Utuado - Canon Blanco and Jungle Adventures!
Where We Stayed In Puerto Rico - Old San Juan and The Jungles of Utuado!
Where to Eat All Across Puerto Rico!