Refuge - Costa Rica (Medium/Light Roast)

There are cooperatives, and then there is Coopetarrazu.

With over 4,650 member farmers in the canton of Tarrazú, this is precision coffee on a grand scale — and somehow, it never loses its soul. Every afternoon, a steady procession of trucks rolls in from the surrounding hillsides, beds loaded with the day's harvest. From that moment, the clock starts. Within 72 hours, those cherries have been weighed, sorted, depulped, demucilaged, conveyed, air-dried, and gently brought to exactly 11% moisture — all through a closed-loop water recycling system that wastes nothing. Then the coffee rests. At least a month in silos, unhurried, before it's milled, sorted by weight and color, and readied for export.

That discipline shows up in the cup in the best possible way. Grown in the volcanic loam of Tarrazú at 1,300 to 1,600 meters, this fully washed Caturra and Catuai is everything the region is known for — vibrant and alive, with the brightness of fresh pineapple juice, a deep note of blackberry, and a smooth almond finish that keeps things grounded. Complex without being fussy. Sweet without being soft.

And the care extends well beyond the coffee itself. Cooperative members have access to low-interest loans, healthcare, and a profitable agriculture supply and grocery store built to keep their households and farms stable year-round. This is what it looks like when a community builds something that truly works — for the land, for the farmers, and for the cup.