A: Costa Rica Rivense Finca El Mango
honey Caturra and Catuai
Café Rivense is a family-run farm and micromill founded in 2005 by Régulo Ureña and Isabel Rojas in the lush Chirripó micro-region of Costa Rica’s Brunca area, and today it’s still operated hands-on with the help of their children. Rivense is especially unique because everything happens on-site: multiple garden-like growing areas feed cherry directly into fully integrated wet and dry mills right on the farm, so the coffee is essentially export-ready the moment it leaves—helping keep quality tight and traceability strong. The Ureña family has earned serious recognition over the years (including a 5th place Cup of Excellence finish in 2019), and it’s easy to see why. The region sits alongside Costa Rica’s highest peak, creating a biodiversity-rich microclimate that’s ideal for producing clean, expressive coffees, while their focus on honey and natural processing helps minimize water use and supports a sustainability operation. In the cup, this honey processed lot comes across as bright and sweet, with a dusty dark-chocolate base, strawberry-like acidity that feels both crisp and juicy, and a broader berry sweetness that builds as it cools.
B: Kenya Nyeri Karindundu
washed SL-28 and SL-34
Karindundu Factory sits just outside of Karatina town in Kenya’s Nyeri district, and like many of the best Kenyan coffees, it’s a “factory” within a much larger cooperative society. Several hundred small farmers in the surrounding area deliver fresh cherries to the Karindundu wet mill, where everything is processed onsite with an almost obsessive level of care. That meticulous preparation is a huge part of why Kenyan coffees can taste so strikingly clean and structured. This coffee is graded AB (a screen-size separation), which is often one of the top lots alongside AA and peaberry, and while size doesn’t guarantee quality, Karindundu tends to prove why those separations get so much attention. In the cup, I got a punchy grapefruit-rind bitterness right up front, followed by a black-tea backbone, with a sweet burnt-sugar note that gives it weight and balance—then a warm-spice finish that lingers in a satisfying, cozy way.
