Costa Rica Yellow Honey Coffee Brands and Brewing Steps

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Costa Rica Helsar De Zarcero

Country: Costa Rica

Grade: SHB

Region: West Valley

Roast Level: Medium Roast

Processing Method: Yellow Honey

Yellow Honey Processing: About 40% of mucilage is removed; drying requires the most direct heat absorption, receiving maximum sunlight for drying, taking approximately 8 days to reach stable moisture content.

Costa Rican coffee has always been considered a classic flavor profile of the perfect type—balanced, clean, and mild are its foundation. This batch from the Helsar De Zarcero processing plant in the West Valley region is famous for its excellent natural geographical conditions and superior regional cultivation management techniques. It presents an almost perfect classic flavor with lively citrus acidity, blackberry fruit aromas, substantial acidity and mouthfeel, melon-like sweetness, smooth texture, and stone fruit/light floral notes. The aftertaste has prominent coffee flower fragrance, making it a coffee full of Latin rural charm.

Varieties: Caturra, Catuai

Processing Plant: Helsar De Zarcero Processing Plant

Flavor Notes: Brown sugar, almond, black tea

Costa Rica was the first country in Central America where coffee was introduced for cultivation, with a long history and a complete system from production to sales. Located in the Central American isthmus with numerous volcanoes, it possesses natural advantages of sunlight and land. Climate-wise, it benefits from the moderation of Pacific and Atlantic ocean currents and sea breezes. The resulting coffee exhibits characteristics of local microclimate terroir conditions. In terms of quality and quantity, Costa Rican coffee has consistently received worldwide recognition and has been rated as one of the world's high-quality coffees.

The volcanic terrain of Costa Rica provides fertile volcanic ash, moderate and suitable temperatures, and stable abundant rainfall—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.

Costa Rica has a long history of coffee cultivation, but in the past decade or so, the innovative "dry processing" method has become trendy, collectively known as "honey processing" new methods. Using pulping machines to adjust the degree of pulp removal, they produce coffees that present "honey sensation" from light to rich as the color ranges from light to deep (white, yellow-red-white, yellow-red-black), each with varying acidity, complex aromas, and richness—each with its own merits. The Herbazu processing plant, located in the West Valley region's Naranjo area, is highly renowned in this region. Besides having its own coffee plantation, it also processes and produces green beans for nearby estates and small coffee farmers.

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

Caturra is a single-gene variant of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. It has better production capacity and disease resistance than Bourbon, with shorter plants that facilitate harvesting. Unfortunately, like Bourbon, it has the problem of biennial production cycles. However, it has strong adaptability, doesn't require shade trees, and thrives in direct sunlight—hence called "Sun Coffee." It can adapt to high-density planting but requires more fertilization, increasing costs, so initial farmer acceptance was not high.

But in the 1970s, when bean prices rose sharply, farmers switched to Caturra to increase yields. With vigorous promotion by Brazilian and Colombian authorities, results were fruitful. Farmers' acceptance of Caturra signaled a major transformation in cultivation techniques. Brazil and Colombia adopted high-yield, high-density sun-grown planting. By 1990, one million hectares could harvest 14 million bags of coffee beans—a 60% increase in production. No wonder high-production, high-quality Caturra has become a variety that all producing countries rely on today.

Hand-pour Yellow Honey: 15g of coffee, medium grind (Fuji Royal grinder #4), V60 dripper, 88-89°C water temperature. First pour 30g water, bloom for 27 seconds, pour to 105g and stop pouring. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half, then continue pouring slowly until reaching 225g. Avoid the tail section. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

Caturra is suitable for cultivation from low altitudes of 700 meters to high altitudes of 1700 meters, with strong altitude adaptability. The higher the altitude, the better the flavor, but production decreases relatively—this is the fate of specialty beans. Some academics describe Caturra as the intensive and sun-grown version of Bourbon, which hits the nail on the head. In Central and South America, there is also a variant called yellow Caturra (Caturra Amarello), but its reputation is not as good as Yellow Bourbon.

When Caturra is lightly roasted, its acidic aroma is prominent and overall brightness is high. With proper processing, sweetness can be expressed very well, but coffee body is relatively low compared to Bourbon, and mouthfeel cleanliness is somewhat lacking.

Usually, Caturra has red berries, but in extremely rare areas, there are yellow Caturras. For example, Hawaii grows very few yellow Caturras.

Manufacturer: Dazhen 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

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473