EL RENACER NATURAL, COSTA RICA - FILTER COFFEE

This is the third coffee of the season from the Ureña family’s Café Rivense farm. This time it’s a naturally processed Casiopea. Its full, smooth body is complemented by notes of blueberry, plum wine and pecan.

Unlike the farm’s two previous coffees (La Catarata Honey and La Catarata Anaerobic Natural), this one comes from a plot called El Renacer. The plot sits at 1,700 metres and is planted with Casiopea. This relatively rare variety is an Arabica F1 hybrid, a cross between Caturra and a wild Ethiopian strain. An F1 hybrid is the first generation of offspring from two genetically different plants, and it is often more productive and vigorous than either parent. However, seedlings grown from its seeds don’t keep the parent plant’s traits, so new plants are propagated from cuttings, for example. This makes them more expensive than traditional seed-grown varieties.

The Ureña family is no stranger to GLC. We’ve been buying coffee from them for a few years now, and Lauri and Aleksi visited their farm, Café Rivense del Chirripó, in November 2025. The family-run farm was founded in 2005 by Régulo Ureña and Isabel Rojas. Their sons Ricardo, Mario and Esteban run the farm together with their father, and the rest of the family is closely involved as well. The family has invested heavily in the farm, and every step is carried out with great precision to get the best possible result.

The farm is run on sustainable farming principles aimed at reducing its environmental impact. Shade trees naturally enrich the soil and keep the coffee trees cool, fertilisation is based on annual soil analyses, and weed control is done carefully and only when needed. All water sources are protected, and fruit trees grown on the farm support local wildlife.

The Chirripó micro-region has quickly made its way onto Costa Rica’s specialty coffee map. It lies between two mountain ranges: Cerro de la Muerte and Cerro Chirripó, the country’s highest peak at 3,820 metres. High growing altitudes (1,300–2,000 m), nutrient-rich volcanic soil and cool mountain air create a unique microclimate that supports healthy coffee trees and a complex flavour profile. In recent years the region’s specialty coffee potential has become ever clearer, driving further development of both the region and its coffees!