Curated Journeys

For a closer look at the work behind every cup, join one of our team members for a guided 90-minute walk through the coffee farm. You will explore our shade-grown coffee forest and learn how coffee is cultivated within a living ecosystem—from caring for the soil and protecting the forest canopy to harvesting ripe cherries and processing them at the farm. Because Spirit Mountain is a working farm, what you encounter will change with the season; no two tours are exactly alike. Tours are currently offered in Spanish, providing an authentic opportunity to learn directly from the people who know and care for this land every day. Good walking shoes are strongly recommended—coffee, after all, rarely grows on flat ground at Spirit Mountain

Spirit Mountain offers more than 30 kilometers of trails across 350 acres of working coffee farm, ecological reserve, mountain ridges, hidden streams, and tropical forest. Wander beneath the shade-grown coffee canopy, cross cool mountain water, listen for endemic birds, or climb into the higher reaches of the property, where the forest opens to expansive views across the valleys and toward some of the tallest mountains in the Caribbean.

There is no single “correct” way to explore Spirit Mountain. Choose a trail, follow your curiosity, and allow yourself to get a little lost—intentionally, of course. Around the next bend you may encounter our farm team at work, a sudden rain shower, a hidden waterfall, a Hispaniolan Trogon, or a view that convinces you to sit down and forget whatever schedule you thought you had.

One important word of caution: some trails are purpose-built gravity lines within Tri-Mountain MTB Park. If a trail looks as though it would be unusually fun to descend on a mountain bike, there is a good chance someone else has had exactly the same thought—and that rider may be approaching very quickly. Remain alert, listen for riders, avoid lingering on downhill features, and step completely off the trail when a rider approaches.

Our team is always happy to recommend a route or point you toward a favorite destination, but most hiking is self-guided. Bring plenty of food and water, rain gear, good hiking shoes, and enough daylight for the return journey. There is far more to explore than anyone can cover in one visit, which is really just our way of giving you a reason to come back.

Long before Spirit Mountain had roads, our family explored the farm on horseback. We once kept a herd of more than 20 horses, and our daughters, Keren and Kate, spent much of their childhood riding across the property—through coffee groves, over streams, and straight up and down mountainsides.

Their style was sometimes less “peaceful trail ride” and a little more *The Man from Snowy River*, but those adventures became some of our family’s most treasured memories.Today, horseback riding remains one of the most timeless ways to experience the farm. Guided rides follow mountain paths through the working coffee plantation and tropical forest, reaching hidden corners and scenic overlooks that reveal an entirely different side of Spirit Mountain.

The pace is slower, the perspective is higher, and the connection to the landscape feels much as it did before the roads arrived.We still keep a few horses at the farm, but most rides are arranged with trusted neighbors who provide additional horses and local guides. Advance notice is required, and availability may vary. Let us know before your visit, and we will do our best to organize an experience suited to your group and riding ability—whether you prefer a quiet walk through the coffee trees or have always secretly imagined yourself riding down a mountain like Jim Craig.

A Spirit Mountain Origin Trip is not a polished tour designed to show you only the pretty parts of coffee. It is a five-day immersion into the people, work, culture, and occasional controlled chaos behind every cup—beginning on our family’s coffee farm high in the Dominican mountains and ending on the white-sand beaches of Cabarete.For three days, you will live close to the rhythms of a working farm.

Depending on the season, you may pick ripe cherries on steep hillsides, learn how coffee is fermented, washed, and dried, visit the dry mill, and cup coffees alongside people who have dedicated their lives to understanding them. You will spend time with our farm team—the real experts—and with Kathryn Lake of Farm to Cup Coffee Consulting, who grew up at Spirit Mountain and now helps connect producers more directly with roasters and coffee professionals around the world. There are no middlemen, no carefully rehearsed scripts, and very few opportunities to keep your shoes clean.

Then, after the farm has expanded your knowledge, tested a few muscles you may have forgotten about, and permanently changed how you look at your morning coffee, we head north to Cabarete. There, the mountains give way to turquoise water, ocean air, and a well-earned chance to process everything you have experienced—preferably with your feet in the sand and something cold in your hand.Designed for roasters, café owners, baristas, and genuinely curious coffee lovers, each trip includes accommodations, meals, transportation, and thoughtfully curated experiences from arrival through departure. You will come away understanding far more than how coffee moves from seed to cup. You will know the people behind it, the land that shaped it, and why origin is not simply a place on a label.Come prepared. Leave transformed. Go home a storyteller.

Sign up for an Origin Trip