LA RIVIERA CULTURING NIU

Tastes Like: Buttered Popcorn, Coconut, Passionfruit

Why I’m Obsessed: I could smell this one brewing from across the room! At first sniff I expected chocolate-covered coconut. Then came the entrance: melted butter, astoundingly creamy, like nothing I’ve ever tasted. There’s a slight booziness, like coconut rum but never overwhelming, and the finish lands somewhere between a Mounds bar and coffee with coconut creme and a splash of crème de cacao. Here’s where it all comes from: this lot is part of Devoción’s Culturing series, their experimental fermentation program, and this release was co-fermented with pineapple, coconut, and sugarcane, a process inspired by the beer industry and extremely tricky to execute well. This lot is a wonderful example of what truly meticulous co-fermentation can unlock: a set of flavors that remind me of the popcorn balls and Mounds bars in your Halloween candy mix. Even Devoción’s own team calls it one of the most unique coffees they’ve come across in a long time, and I concur. You won't believe this is black coffee without any flavor added. It's that intense. Coffees like this are why the Top Shelf tier exists and, unlike the subtleties in some of the top-tier coffees, this one is a total show-off.

If you don’t know Devoción, here’s what makes them so special: they have reinvented farm-direct. They handpick all their lots from their network of producers and fly those lots from Colombia to Brooklyn in as little as 10 days from harvest. That obsessive freshness is exactly what a delicate, experimental lot like this needs to shine, and it’s why nobody is better positioned to pull off a coffee this ambitious.

Bottom Line: You’ll love Devocion's La Riviera Culturing Niu if you love unique fermentation lots, Mounds bars from the candy bowl, or want a non-fruity, non-subtle coffee that will absolutely knock your socks off.

One of the most unique coffees our team has come across in a long time, this Niu coffee from the Culturing series has notes of buttered popcorn, a creamy mouthfeel that coats the palate like coconut, and a hint of tropical acidity reminiscent of passionfruit.