In this month’s edition we’ve got a report from a visit to southern Costa Rica, where the harvest has begun at Hacienda Rio Negro. Plus, a spotlight on some great spot coffees available now.
The Harvest Begins at Rio Negro
It’s hard to believe it, but the harvest is underway in Costa Rica. Despite the timing being mostly consistent year-to-year, it still manages to sneak up on me. While we’re still a couple of months out from the peak of the harvest in Los Santos, things are starting to pick up in Coto Brus, where our farm Hacienda Rio Negro and its onsite mill, Beneficio Rio Negro, are getting busier each day. I spent some time at Rio Negro last week and came back feeling quite excited about the upcoming crop from southern Costa Rica.
The first thing to know about Rio Negro is that compared to the more-frequently visited Los Santos area, where Hacienda La Minita is located, it’s quite a trek. From San José, the drive is a minimum of six hours – so far south that you can see Panama’s famous Volcán Barú from just about anywhere on the farm. There’s currently construction along the easiest route, which follows the Pacific coast for most of the journey, so we spent the first two hours of the drive on remote dirt roads to avoid the extra traffic. After a stop in nearby San Vito for a pizza dinner – the town was founded by Italian immigrants and has some excellent Italian food available – we made it to the farm.
We woke up early the next morning, ready for a full day. After a couple of cups of coffee and a traditional breakfast of gallo pinto, we piled into the back of the truck and headed out for a tour. While the harvest hasn’t yet peaked at Rio Negro, there was still plenty of activity going on. We started by visiting some areas of the farm where our team is experimenting with terraced planting, which allows for easier maintenance of the trees. Then we made our way to a recently renovated lot which is being used to test new varieties and compare them with the trusted Caturra, Catuai, and Hibrido Tico that make up most of the the farm’s plants.
Terraced planting in the Tierras Mojadas lot at Rio Negro
Ripe cherry, ready for picking!
Next, we drove to an area where picking was underway and observed the collection and measurement of the day’s harvest. The cherry was plentiful and bright red, showing a dedication to only picking fruit at the peak of its ripeness. One challenge in this area is that the harvest begins during the months in which heavy afternoon rains are still common, so picking must happen quickly once the cherry ripens to avoid crop loss. Managing this requires our farm managers to constantly monitor the status of each lot in order to organize picking effectively.
In the late afternoon, we turned our attention to the mill, where we observed the arrival of the truck we’d seen loaded with coffee earlier in the day as well as deliveries from our receiving stations in the region. In addition to the coffee from our own farm, we also purchase cherry from small producers in the area and produce our regional marks La Sonrisa and Doña Isa Beneficio Rio Negro. Beneficio Rio Negro is quite similar to Beneficio Rio Tarrazú, our mill at La Minita, and features state-of-the-art technology for processing and sorting coffee to the highest standards. While the mill is primarily focused on washed coffees, we tested some naturally-processed coffees for the 24/25 crop. That test was a great success, and we will have both washed and natural Rio Negro available in 2026.
Receiving the day’s harvest at Beneficio Rio Negro
Beneficio Rio Negro
The next day was Sunday, which is a quiet day on the farm. We spent our time observing the washing of some of the coffees we’d seen entering the mill the previous day before enjoying a cupping of some of the earliest samples from the new harvest. Despite their freshness, all the coffees were excellent, showing the heavy body, citrus and chocolate notes, and exceptionally clean cup we expect from the farm. In the afternoon, we set out for a hike in the farm’s natural forest preserve. This jungle covers 815 of the farm’s 1,813 acres and borders Parque Internacional La Amistad, Central America’s largest nature preserve. While the muddy ground and dense vegetation made for slow going – it took us nearly three hours to walk less than two miles – we were rewarded with beautiful waterfalls and plenty of bird and butterfly sightings. This land is a key part of our farm’s Rainforest Alliance certification as well as our recognition as carbon neutral by Costa Rica’s Ministry of Environment and Energy.
We ended the trip with a barbecue dinner and an evening of relaxation before heading back to San José the next morning. As always, it was great to spend some time at Rio Negro and in the surrounding area. While the coffees from Coto Brus are not as well-known as those from some other regions in Costa Rica, their unique flavor profile and excellent value make them a great option for a wide variety of roasting needs. If you’re interested in coffee from Rio Negro or any of our other offerings from Costa Rica, reach out to your salesperson or contact us via the form on our website. With the harvest underway, it’s a great time to start booking your coffees for 2026!
Report by Tucker Francis, Green Coffee Manager
available now
COSTA RICA, LA GLOXINIA
La Gloxinia comes from small producers around Santa Maria de Dota. We maintain a number of receiving stations in the area, where we purchase cherry from farmers and deliver it to our mill, Beneficio Rio Tarrazú for processing. This region is known for its lively acidity and distinctive profile. La Gloxinia is one of our most-loved regional offerings, and it’s available on both coasts.
Availability: CTI NJ, Annex CA
Certifications: N/A
Cupping notes: Cherry, chocolate, brown sugar
COSTA RICA, FINCA LA PASTORA AFRICAN WASHED
La Minita has worked with Don Minor Esquivel of Finca La Pastora since 2004. La Pastora operates its own micromill and uses a variety of processing methods to prepare their coffee. This method, the African Washed, attempts to replicate the fermentation and washing processes used by mills in East Africa, with excellent results.
Availability: CTI NJ
Certifications: N/A
Cupping notes: Blueberry, green apple candy
That’s all for this month’s edition. Thanks for reading, and as always, if there’s anything we can do for you, reach out to your salesperson or fill out our contact form and we’ll get right back to you. See you next month!