Costa Rica Yellow Honey Coffee Price Guide - Yellow Honey Processing Costs

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Costa Rica Helsar De Zarcero - Classic Flavor Profile

Costa Rican coffee has always been considered a classic flavor profile of perfect type. Balance, cleanliness, and smoothness are its foundation. This batch from the Helsar processing plant in the West Valley region is renowned for its excellent natural geographical conditions and superior regional cultivation management techniques. It presents a nearly perfect classic flavor with lively citrus notes in acidity, blackberry fruit aromas, rich texture in acidity and mouthfeel, melon-like sweetness, smooth mouthfeel, drupe fruit/subtle floral notes, and a remarkable coffee flower aftertaste. It's a coffee full of Latin countryside charm.

Coffee Details

Varieties: Caturra, Catuai

Processing Plant: Helsar Processing Plant

Flavor Notes: Brown sugar, almond, black tea

Costa Rica's Coffee Heritage

Costa Rica was the first country in Central America where coffee was introduced for cultivation, boasting a long history and a complete system from production to sales. Located in the Central American Isthmus, the country features numerous volcanoes and enjoys natural advantages of sunshine and fertile land. The climate is moderated by Pacific and Atlantic ocean currents and sea breezes, resulting in coffee with distinctive characteristics of local microclimate terroir. In both quality and quantity, Costa Rican coffee has consistently received global recognition and has been rated as one of the world's high-quality coffees.

Geographical Advantages

The fertile volcanic ash from Costa Rica's volcanic terrain, mild and suitable temperatures, and stable, abundant rainfall are all factors contributing to coffee becoming one of the country's main agricultural products. The seven major producing regions are: Tarrzu, Tres Rios, Orosi, Central Valley, West Valley, Turrialba, and Brunca.

Innovative Processing Methods

While Costa Rica has a long history of coffee cultivation, in the past decade or so, the innovative "dry" processing method has become popular. Collectively known as "honey processing," this new approach uses pulping machines to adjust the degree of pulp removal, producing "honey sensation" that ranges from light to intense as the color varies from light to deep (white, yellow-red-white, yellow-red-black). Each level offers unique acidity, complex aromas, and rich texture. The Herbazu processing plant is located in the Naranjo region of the West Valley area, where it enjoys high recognition. In addition to having its own coffee plantation, it also processes and produces green beans for nearby estates and small coffee farmers.

Flavor Profile

Brown sugar, floral notes, almond, black tea, orange and sweet spice sensations, moderate acidity, syrupy mouthfeel, excellent aftertaste.

Caturra Variety Characteristics

Caturra is a single-gene variant of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. It offers better yield and disease resistance than Bourbon, with shorter plants that facilitate harvesting. Unfortunately, like Bourbon, it suffers from biennial production cycles. However, it has strong adaptability and doesn't require shade trees - it can thrive directly under intense sunlight, earning it the name "Sun Coffee." It can adapt to high-density planting but requires more fertilization, increasing costs, so initial farmer acceptance was low.

However, during the 1970s coffee price surge, farmers flocked to plant Caturra to increase yields. With strong promotion from Brazilian and Colombian authorities, the results were abundant. Farmer acceptance of Caturra signaled a major transformation in cultivation techniques. Brazil and Colombia adopted high-yield, high-density sun-exposed planting methods. By 1990, one million hectares could harvest 14 million bags of coffee beans, increasing productivity by 60%. No wonder high-yield, high-quality Caturra has become a variety relied upon by various producing countries.

Brewing Recommendations

Hand-poured yellow honey process. Using 15g of coffee, medium grind (using Fuji's ghost tooth grinder #4), V60 dripper, water temperature 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water for a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and stop. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to halfway, then continue pouring slowly until reaching 225g. Avoid the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Growing Conditions and Processing

Caturra is suitable for cultivation from low altitudes of 700 meters to high altitudes of 1700 meters, showing strong altitude adaptability. The higher the altitude, the better the flavor, but relatively lower yield - this is the destiny of specialty coffee beans. Academics have described Caturra as an intensive, sun-exposed version of Bourbon, which is quite insightful. There is also a yellow Caturra variant (Caturra Amarello) in Central and South America, but its reputation doesn't match that of Yellow Bourbon.

When lightly roasted, Caturra exhibits prominent acidic aromas and overall brightness. With proper handling, sweetness can be expressed exceptionally well, though the coffee body is relatively lower compared to Bourbon, and the cleanliness of mouthfeel is somewhat lacking.

Typically, Caturra produces red berries, but in very rare regions, there are yellow Caturra varieties. For example, Hawaii grows very small quantities of yellow Caturra.

Product Information

Manufacturer: Dazhen Coffee FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)

Address: No. 10, Bao'an Front Street, Guangzhou

Contact: 020-38364473

Ingredients: In-house roasted

Shelf Life: 90 days

Net Weight: 227g

Packaging: Bulk coffee beans

Roast Level: Roasted coffee beans

Sugar Content: Sugar-free

Origin: Costa Rica

Coffee Type: Other

Roast Degree: Medium roast

Technical Specifications

Country: Costa Rica

Grade: SHB

Region: West Valley

Roast Level: Medium roast

Processing Method: Yellow honey

Yellow Honey Process: Approximately 40% of mucilage is removed; drying requires the most direct heat absorption, receiving maximum sunlight exposure, taking about 8 days to reach stable moisture content.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473