Finca Río Blanco topped Costa Rica’s 2026 Cup of Excellence with a Washed Java that scored 91.36 points, the highest mark of any Costa Rican coffee this year, and sold at the competition’s July 9 auction for a record $200.10 a pound. Grown by producer Alejandra Cordero Solano in Copey de Dota, in the Los Santos region, at roughly 1,950 meters, the lot went to a buyer identified in auction reporting as Enwan Coffee, which bought it in two equal portions. That name matches Address Cafe, whose Arabic name, عنوان القهوة, translates to Enwan Coffee; it’s a Saudi coffee chain with its own barista championship and app, based in Riyadh.
This links to Address Cafe’s general shop. The specific Costa Rica lot is not listed there as of this writing; a direct link will be added once it is available for purchase.
Java is a coffee variety with roots in Ethiopia, carried to the Indonesian island of Java and later introduced to Central America for its resistance to coffee leaf rust. It’s less common in competition than Geisha but can produce a similarly delicate, tea like cup. This lot was Washed, meaning the fruit was removed from the bean before drying for a clean, bright result. Cordero Solano produces through Café Solís & Cordero, a family coffee business she and her family established in 2018. The $200.10 bid was the highest price paid at this year’s Costa Rica auction, though it falls short of the country’s all time Cup of Excellence record, $300.09 a pound, paid in 2018 for a Honey processed Geisha from Finca Don Cayito, also in Copey de Dota.
Costa Rica’s 2026 Cup of Excellence also crowned two other category leaders, both also from the Los Santos region. In the Honey and Natural category, Alex Ureña Marín’s Las Nubes farm placed first with a Honey processed Geisha at 91.06 points. In the Experimental Fermentations category, Emmanuel Solis Porras’s Las Margaritas Veintiséis took the top spot with a Geisha at the same 91.06 points. Neither lot has a confirmed retail buyer as of this writing.
The Win
The Cup of Excellence began in 1999 and has been run by the non-profit Alliance for Coffee Excellence since 2002. It’s the specialty coffee world’s oldest farm lot competition: entries are blind cupped by a national jury and then an international panel before winning lots go to auction.
For more on the Cup of Excellence and past winners, visit our Cup of Excellence page.