Rive 37

French Specialty Coffee. Designed in California.

Rive / 001 — Monterey Bay

Aujourd'hui

Reading the week.

RIVE / 001

Get directions The whole week
    Chart of the three places RIVE / 001 stands each week, from Marina to Monterey.
    Three places, six mornings. On Sundays, anywhere on the Peninsula.

    La carte

    Our coffees,
    every way you like them.

    Black, with milk or over ice, every cup starts from our own coffees and gets the same care: weighed, timed, poured without hurry. Every price is on the board — nobody will talk you into more.

    Black

    • Espresso$4First Light
    • Americano$4.50
    • Double espresso$5
    • Filter$6Horizon, brewed through the morning
    • The pair$9One coffee, as espresso and as filter, side by side

    With milk

    • Cortado$5
    • Cappuccino$5
    • Flat white$5.50
    • Latte$5.50
    • Latte macchiato$6
    • Mocha$6
    • Black and white$8.50An espresso and a cappuccino, side by side
    • Hot chocolate$5Dark chocolate, no coffee

    Over ice

    • Iced latte$6
    • Traverse$6Iced brew, black
    • Espresso tonic$6
    • Iced americano$5

    From the oven

    • Croissant$4
    • Croissant jambon-œuf$9
    • Cookie chocolat$4

    Extras Oat milk+$0.75

    • A handleless bottle-green stoneware tumbler of espresso with a dense hazelnut crema, on the walnut counter.

      First Light

      $4

      Rive / Signature · Espresso, 18 g / 40 g

      Chosen for cocoa and red fruit. The house shot — the foundation of every milk drink we pour.

    • A tall handleless bottle-green stoneware cup of americano, a veil of crema on the black coffee, on the walnut counter.

      Americano

      $4.50

      Rive / Black · Espresso, lengthened

      First Light poured over hot water, so the crema stays whole on top. Longer and rounder, and still the taste of the shot.

    • A small handleless bottle-green stoneware cup of double espresso under a thick crema, a small glass of sparkling water beside it.

      Double espresso

      $5

      Rive / Black · Two shots, one cup

      Twice the First Light in one cup, with a small glass of sparkling water to clear the palate first.

    • A handleless bottle-green stoneware cup of black filter coffee beside a glass carafe of the same, on the walnut counter.

      Horizon

      $6

      Rive / 37 — 001 · Filter, batch brew

      A single origin that follows the seasons, floral and bright. Long and clear, like the horizon at first light.

    • A small cup of espresso and a taller cup of filter coffee, both in bottle-green stoneware, side by side on a small walnut board.

      The pair

      $9

      Rive / Tasting · One coffee, two ways

      The filter of the moment, poured as an espresso and as a filter, side by side on a walnut board. Same coffee, two cups that taste nothing alike.

    • A small thick glass of cortado, espresso below and silky milk above, a small heart drawn in the foam.

      Cortado

      $5

      Rive / Milk · Half and half, in glass

      Espresso and steamed milk in equal parts, in a small thick glass. Short and warm, with the coffee still in front.

    • A wide handleless bottle-green stoneware cup of cappuccino, the RIVE mark — one line and one ring — dusted on the foam in cocoa.

      Cappuccino

      $5

      Rive / Milk · Six ounces, no more

      The French size, not the American one. Just enough milk to round off First Light, and our mark drawn on the foam in cocoa.

    • A low handleless bottle-green stoneware cup of flat white, filled to the rim, a fine tulip drawn in the foam.

      Flat white

      $5.50

      Rive / Milk · Thin foam, flush to the rim

      A double ristretto under a thin, glossy layer of milk, poured flush to the rim. Stronger than a latte, softer than a cortado.

    • A wide handleless bottle-green stoneware cup of latte, a large rosetta drawn in the foam.

      Latte

      $5.50

      Rive / Milk · Ten ounces, gentle

      The gentlest of the milk drinks: a shot of First Light in a wide cup of silky milk, for those who like the coffee in the background.

    • A tall thick-walled glass of latte macchiato in three layers — milk, espresso, foam — on the walnut counter.

      Latte macchiato

      $6

      Rive / Milk · Layered in glass

      Milk first, then the shot poured slowly through it, settling into three bands. Stir it — or just watch.

    • A handleless bottle-green stoneware cup of mocha, a heart in the foam scattered with dark chocolate shavings, a square of chocolate beside it.

      Mocha

      $6

      Rive / Milk · Dark chocolate

      Dark chocolate melted in the cup, a shot of First Light and steamed milk, a few shavings on top. Dessert, without the sugar.

    • A small cup of espresso and a wider cup of cappuccino with a heart in the foam, both in bottle-green stoneware, side by side on a small walnut board.

      Black and white

      $8.50

      Rive / Tasting · With and without milk

      An espresso and a cappuccino from the same coffee, side by side. The shot alone, then the shot with milk.

    • A wide handleless bottle-green stoneware cup of hot chocolate, milk swirled into its glossy surface, pieces of dark chocolate beside it.

      Hot chocolate

      $5

      Rive / Milk · Dark chocolate, no coffee

      Dark chocolate melted into steamed milk, thick and not too sweet. The one on the board with no coffee in it.

    • A heavy thick-walled glass tumbler of iced latte over clear ice, milk still settling through the coffee in strata.

      Iced latte

      $6

      Rive / Iced · Over ice

      A double shot of First Light over ice and cold milk, falling through itself in slow strata. Drink it before it mixes itself.

    • A tall glass of black iced brew coffee over clear ice, glowing amber in the light.

      Traverse

      $6

      Rive / 002 · Iced brew, black

      A fruit-forward single origin, brewed hot straight onto ice — so it keeps its spark instead of going flat.

    • A tall glass of espresso tonic over ice, the coffee clouding down into the sparkling tonic, a strip of orange zest on the rim.

      Espresso tonic

      $6

      Rive / Iced · Sparkling

      Tonic over ice, a shot of First Light poured slowly on top, a twist of orange. Bitter, bright and very cold.

    • A short heavy glass of iced americano, clear ice in dark coffee, a ring of crema at the surface.

      Iced americano

      $5

      Rive / Iced · Black, over ice

      First Light poured over cold water and ice. Clean, dark and long: the shot, cooled down.

    • An all-butter croissant with a deeply laminated crust on a small ceramic plate, two small jars of jam and hazelnut spread beside it.

      Croissant

      $4

      Rive / Boulange · All butter

      All butter, baked that morning. Plain — or with jam or a chocolate spread on the side.

    • A croissant split open and filled with soft scrambled eggs, thin slices of ham and green leaves, on a small ceramic plate.

      Croissant jambon-œuf

      $9

      Rive / Boulange · Savory

      Split while still warm and filled with soft scrambled eggs, thin-sliced ham and a handful of young leaves. Breakfast you can hold in one hand.

    • Two thick chocolate chunk cookies on a small sand-colored stoneware plate, one broken open, flakes of sea salt on top.

      Cookie chocolat

      $4

      Rive / Boulange · Dark chocolate, sea salt

      Dark chocolate in big chunks, a pinch of salt. Crisp at the edge, soft at the heart.

    Le café de spécialité

    A fruit, before
    it is a cup.

    Coffee comes from a small red cherry that grows on a shrub, in the hills of warm countries. The coffee bean is the seed inside that cherry. Like a grape or a strawberry, it tastes of where it grew and of how it was looked after.

    Specialty coffee is simply coffee where every step — growing, picking, drying, roasting, brewing — is done with care, so you can still taste the fruit in your cup.

    01020304
    1. 01The branch
    2. 02The cherry, cut open
    3. 03The green bean
    4. 04The roasted bean
    37° N — MontereyTropic of CancerEquatorTropic of CapricornThe coffee belt

    Monterey Bay, just below 37° N — where we pour.

    Du 0° au 37°

    Grown near the equator.
    Poured by the 37th.

    Coffee only grows in a warm belt around the middle of the Earth — between the two tropics, high in the hills, where it is mild all year and never freezes.

    Monterey Bay opens just below 37° north, far above that belt. Every cup we pour has traveled the distance between those two lines.

    Points out of 100

    Think of it as an exam. Certified tasters taste each coffee and give it a score out of 100. From 80 up, it can be called specialty. Most of the world's coffee never gets there.

    Ce qui change dans la tasse

    Three things you can taste.

    • Most coffee
    • Specialty coffee

    1. 01Where it comes from

      Most coffeeBeans from many farms, often from several countries, blended until no one can say where they grew.

      Specialty coffeeIt can be traced to a region, often to a single farm — and that place is what you taste.

    2. 02How it is roasted

      Most coffeeOften roasted very dark, which covers what the beans lack. It mostly tastes of the roast: bitter, and much the same from one cup to the next.

      Specialty coffeeRoasted to suit each coffee and the way it will be brewed — lighter for filter, a little deeper for espresso — but never so far that it loses its own taste: fruity, floral, chocolatey.

    3. 03When it is ground

      Most coffeeOften ground weeks or months before it reaches your cup. By then, most of the aroma is gone.

      Specialty coffeeGround seconds before brewing, the moment you order, so the aroma goes straight into the cup.

    De la branche à la tasse

    1. 01

      The farm

      Coffee grows best up in the hills, near the equator. The cherries are picked when they are ripe and red, often by hand.

    2. 02

      The drying

      The fruit is taken off the seed — washed away with water, or dried in the sun. This step alone changes the taste: cleaner and brighter, or rounder and sweeter.

    3. 03

      The roast

      The green seeds are roasted, a little like toasting bread. Done gently, they keep their own flavors; roasted very dark, every coffee ends up tasting the same.

    4. 04

      The cup

      Then it is a recipe: how much coffee, how much water, how hot, how long. We weigh and time every cup, so it tastes as good every morning.

    How we see it.

    • Precision, never ceremony.

      Every dose is weighed and every shot is timed, but you will never get a lecture with your cup. You do not need to know any of this to enjoy it; it is here for the curious.

    • A coffee should taste of somewhere.

      A short menu, chosen for what each coffee does best: a blend built for espresso and milk, a filter that follows the seasons, a single origin chosen for the ice.

    • Made for the moment it is drunk.

      Brewed to order, a few steps from you, at first light. Coffee is at its best for minutes, not hours — and those minutes are the ones we hand you.

    Les fondateurs

    Two of us,
    one counter.

    We learned the trade in France, in a real Citroën Type H — the corrugated flank, the flat glass, the machine at arm's length and the street right there, on the other side of the counter. Everything on this page — the coffee, the hours, the thirty-seven — comes out of those mornings.

    We wanted that way of working on this side of the ocean, so we carried it to Monterey Bay. And we still serve it ourselves: order at the hatch, and you are ordering from the two people who learned it.

    Estelle & Quentin — founders

    Estelle and Quentin, the founders of RIVE 37, in bottle-green canvas aprons and ivory shirts, beside RIVE / 001 on the Monterey coast at sunrise.
    RIVE / 001 — the first morning, as we picture it

    L'objet — the object

    Learned in France.
    Towed to the bay.

    The Type H is where we learned: corrugated steel, flat glass, a body older than both of us, and a counter a few steps from the street. A vehicle like that sets the pace — a short menu, every cup made in front of you, time for a word with whoever is waiting.

    RIVE / 001 carries that pace to Monterey Bay. A trailer, not a van — drawn on the Type H's lines, built around the counter, and towed to wherever the morning is. We unhitch, raise the hatch, and the street becomes the café.

    Two tones, one line. Cream above, bottle green below, and a single brass rule where they meet — drawn once, never redrawn.

    RIVE / 001 closed, seen square-on from its offside on a coastal road on the Monterey Peninsula at sunrise.
    RIVE / 001 — closed, before service

    01

    La rive

    The bank of a river — the edge you stand on before you cross. Every counter we open is a threshold: the street on one side, the coffee on the other, and between them a moment that belongs to no one but you.

    02

    Le Pacifique

    French measure, Californian light. The gestures come from one shore; the hour and the weather, from the other. Every coffee is chosen for first light — and for the ten minutes after the sun lifts off the water.

    03

    Trente-sept

    37°N — the line the bay opens just below. And thirty-seven minutes: the pause you are allowed to claim out loud. Take a cup, take the bench, take your thirty-seven.

    Ivory cream rear doors marked RIVE / 001, with two brass handles.
    The plate — numbered 001 before there was ever a 002
    Extreme close-up of the brass pinstripe where the cream paint meets the bottle-green corrugated steel.
    The rule — one millimeter of brass, laid once

    La planche

    The Type H we learned in, taken apart and drawn to one scale. Everything lifts away but one thing — the brass rule. That is what we kept, and what RIVE / 001 is drawn from.

    Exploded technical plate of a Citroën Type H: roof, body shell and cab, counter and espresso machine, the brass rule, the corrugated flank, and the chassis with its wheels.
    1. 01 Le toit Tôle emboutie, une seule pièce
    2. 02 La coque Ivoire mat · RAL 1013
    3. 03 Le comptoir Noyer huilé · 2,40 m
    4. 04 Le liseré Laiton poli · 1 mm
    5. 05 Le flanc ondulé Vert bouteille · RAL 6004
    6. 06 Roues et châssis Jantes noires · 16 pouces

    Une seule ligne de laiton.One brass line, drawn once.

    L'atelier

    A morning,
    in pieces.

    Twelve fragments of the mornings we are getting ready for. The line, the tamp, the spill, the dog who comes anyway, and the counter in every light it catches. Pictured before the first service — the real photographs will take their place.

    Le rituel du matin

    Ninety seconds,
    all yours.

    1. i

      You find the counter by its light before you find it by its shape — one string of warm bulbs under a raised hatch, on a street the sun has only just reached.

    2. ii

      You order in whichever language arrives first. Nobody corrects your French. Nobody hurries your English.

    3. iii

      The grinder, the tamp, the click of the portafilter. Twenty-seven seconds of extraction that cannot be rushed, and are not worth rushing.

    4. iv

      The cup crosses the walnut. From here the morning takes a different shape, and your thirty-seven has already begun.

    A barista's hands tamping ground coffee into a chrome portafilter under a brass pendant lamp.
    Espresso falling from a bottomless portafilter into a bottle-green stoneware tumbler, backlit against the open service hatch.

    Trente-sept

    Take the pause,
    out loud.

    The bay opens just below 37°N. Thirty-seven minutes is what we think a morning owes you before it starts asking for things. Start them here and the page falls quiet for exactly that long — no counter, no menu, nothing to read. Close the tab if you like; it keeps its own time.

    La course du soleil

    Where the light is,
    right now.

    Reading the sky over Monterey Bay.

    Monterey · 36.60° N, 121.89° W · — local. The counter opens with the light and closes long before it fades.

    Où nous trouver

    One counter.
    Six mornings.

    RIVE / 001 keeps a fixed week, so you never have to guess. Now and then the weather moves us; the schedule below is where we mean to be.

    Stops and coffees are confirmed the week we open — no permit has been issued yet.

    The stop of the day goes up every morning, before we open, on Instagram — @rive37coffee. A closed street, a broken grinder — you will hear it there first.

    RIVE / 001 on the coast road of the Monterey Peninsula at sunrise, on its way to its next stop.
    On its way to the next stop.
    Weekly schedule for RIVE / 001
    DayStopTownHours
    MondayGarden RoadMonterey8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
    TuesdayMarina — Imjin Parkway & Del Monte Blvd areaExact lot confirmed the week we open.Marina7:00 AM – 12:00 PM
    WednesdayGarden RoadMonterey8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
    ThursdayMarina — Imjin Parkway & Del Monte Blvd areaExact lot confirmed the week we open.Marina7:00 AM – 12:00 PM
    FridayDel Monte Avenue — by El Estero ParkMonterey8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
    SaturdayDel Monte Avenue — by El Estero ParkMonterey8:00 AM – 2:00 PM
    SundayPrivate eventsAnywhere on the Peninsula, Carmel includedBy reservation
    RIVE 37 open and serving in Monterey at sunrise, a short line waiting.
    Monterey, first light

    Trois partis pris

    Before the
    first cup.

    No reviews yet, and we will not be writing our own. Here, instead, is how we mean to work.

    • 01

      Every coffee has a sheet.

      Where it grows, how it was processed, how we brew it — written down, not whispered. Ask at the hatch; we will tell you all we know.

    • 02

      The same week, every week.

      Six mornings, three places, as regular as we can make them. When something moves us — the weather, a closed street, a temperamental grinder — it goes up on Instagram before we open.

    • 03

      Nothing upsold, nothing hurried.

      Every cup gets the same care, whatever its name. The prices are on the board, and the shot takes the twenty-seven seconds it takes.

    • PaiementCards and cash.
    • MétéoWe open at first light — fog is part of the morning here.
    • AttenteA few minutes at the peak. We will not rush the shot.
    • AccèsOrdered and served right from the sidewalk.
    RIVE 37 open at blue hour on the Monterey waterfront, cypress and harbor masts behind, its string of warm bulbs the brightest thing in the frame.

    Privatisation

    The counter
    comes to you.

    The trailer travels. Team mornings, openings, weddings, launches — we unhitch, raise the hatch, and pour for as long as the light holds. From $850 for a morning service.

    Indicative — the quote follows the guest count and the hours.

    Book RIVE 37 for a private event

    We use what you send here only to answer your inquiry. How we handle it.

    Rejoindre la liste

    Find your 37.

    One counter today, a second one to come. Leave your address and we will write once — the morning we open, with where to find us.

    We write once, the morning we open. Nothing else, ever. How we handle it.