Rum and cocoa: a tasting trail across St Lucia

About Rum and cocoa: a tasting trail across St Lucia

By the ULTIMATE St Lucia Editorial Team

Two of the island’s best souvenirs are made from its land: rum from the Roseau Valley, and chocolate from the cacao of Soufrière and the east. This trail puts them together.

Rum: Saint Lucia Distillers

The island’s rum story now runs through one distillery. Saint Lucia Distillers was formed in 1972, when the last two distilleries on the island came together, and today it produces more than 25 rums and rum products in the agricultural Roseau Valley, home to the community of Jacmel, just south of Marigot Bay.

Its guided Rhythm of Rum tour takes about an hour, from molasses and fermentation to distilling, blending and ageing, and ends with a tasting. Individual visitors can join Monday to Friday, except public holidays, between the first tour at 9am and the last at 3pm; groups of 14 or more can book any day. The Rhum Shoppe sells at factory prices. Book a driver rather than driving after the tasting.

From barrel to bottle, and from tree to cup.

Rum shops

Every village has its rum shop, or kabawé, the island’s local bar. If you want a guide, Serenity Tours’ Kabawé Krawl visits rum shops with music and community culture along the way, and the Gros Islet street party on Friday nights is the biggest rum-and-music night of all.

Cacao: Rabot Estate

Hotel Chocolat bought the Rabot Estate near Soufrière in 2006; the tourism authority calls it the island’s oldest working cacao farm. On the Tree to Bar tour at Project Chocolat, which covers six acres of the estate, you walk among the trees, learn how cacao grows and make your own bar. Stay for lunch at the Rabot Restaurant and a chocolate cocktail in the Cacao Bar.

Cacao: Fond Doux and Morne Coubaril

Fond Doux is a 19th-century working cocoa estate below the Pitons, and its plantation tours show how chocolate was traditionally made. Morne Coubaril, on the hill above Soufrière, adds estate history and views.

Chocolate makers

Above Castries, Howelton Estate runs a bean-to-bar workshop in an 1896 estate house. On the west coast at Canaries, Cacoa Sainte Lucie makes micro-batch chocolate, serves cocoa-inspired breakfasts and teaches chocolate classes. On the east coast at Micoud, Noble Tree processes beans from local farmers and runs Bean to Bar and Crop to Cup coffee tours.

A two-day trail

Day one: the Rhythm of Rum tour in the Roseau Valley in the morning, lunch at Cacoa Sainte Lucie in Canaries, then on to Soufrière for the night. Day two: the Tree to Bar tour at Rabot, lunch at the Rabot Restaurant and a plantation tour at Fond Doux. Use a driver for both days.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Rum and cocoa: a tasting trail across St Lucia before you go.