Differences Between Costa Rica Yellow, Red, and Black Honey Process Coffee | Characteristics of Costa Rica Honey Process Coffee Beans

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FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rica Honey Process Coffee Beans and the Differences Between Yellow, Red, and Black Honey Processing

When you want to buy Costa Rica honey process coffee beans, you usually have choices like yellow honey, red honey, and black honey. You may have heard that these honey processing methods retain different percentages of the mucilage layer, but what exactly does this mean?

Coffee farmers will classify their coffee, with some retaining less mucilage layer for faster drying, while others retain more mucilage layer requiring longer drying time. Yellow honey (retaining approximately 25% mucilage) must be dried in minimal shade environment (clouds, shade trees) to achieve faster completion time, resulting in a yellow appearance. Red honey (retaining approximately 50% mucilage) takes longer and requires some shade for drying. Black honey (retaining approximately 100% mucilage) is usually covered during drying to extend the drying time.

Which is Better Among Costa Rica Honey Process Coffee Beans: Yellow, Red, or Black Honey?

Perhaps black honey is superior. The flavor of honey processing is influenced more delicately and deeply by the sugars remaining in the mucilage layer - the more mucilage remaining, the richer the flavor.

However, for coffee producers, they must face another commercial consideration. Although using black honey processing can yield better quality and higher-priced coffee, the risks and costs also increase significantly, which may affect farmers' willingness to use black honey processing. The longer coffee drying time, the more likely bacteria will grow during fermentation, causing moldy defective beans. They need to turn these beans more frequently and occupy more drying space - up to twice as much as yellow honey processing. It's not just about producing high-quality coffee; it's also about enabling coffee farmers to produce the most profitable coffee.

Tarrazu Region

Costa Rica's Tarrazu is one of the world's major coffee-producing regions, known for its light, pure coffee flavor with pleasant aroma. Costa Rica's volcanic soil is very fertile and well-drained. It was the first country in Central America to grow coffee and bananas for commercial value. Coffee and bananas are the country's main export commodities. In 1729, coffee was introduced to Costa Rica from Cuba. Today, its coffee industry is one of the best-organized in the world, with yields reaching up to 1,700 kg per hectare. Costa Rica has only 3.5 million people but more than 400 million coffee trees, with coffee exports accounting for 25% of the country's total exports. Costa Rica also benefits from the Central American Agricultural Research Institute (Turrialba of the Central American Agricultural Research Institute, IAAc) located in Tarrazu, which is an important international research center.

High-quality Costa Rican coffee is called "Strictly Hard Beans" - this type of coffee can grow at altitudes above 1,500 meters. Altitude has always been a challenge for coffee growers. The higher the altitude, the better the coffee beans - not only because higher altitudes increase the acidity of coffee beans, thereby enhancing flavor, but also because the lower night temperatures at higher altitudes slow tree growth, resulting in more concentrated coffee bean flavors. Additionally, the altitude differences create sufficient rainfall, which is very beneficial for coffee tree growth. However, although growing coffee at higher altitudes has many advantages, the additional transportation costs must be considered, which may make coffee production unprofitable. Costa Rica's coffee industry has adopted new technologies to increase efficiency, including using "electric eyes" to select beans and identify irregularly sized coffee beans.

Tarrazu is located south of the country's capital San José and is one of the most valued coffee-growing areas in the country. "La Minita Tarrazu" coffee is a famous local product with limited production of about 72,600 kg annually. It is grown on land called "La Minita," owned by the British McAlpine family for the past three generations. In fact, this land can produce over 450 tons of coffee annually. However, La Minita Tarrazu coffee is grown without artificial fertilizers or pesticides, and its harvesting and selection are all done by hand to avoid damage to coffee beans that air-jet sorting might cause.

Other noteworthy coffees include: Juan Vinas (PR), H. Tournon, Windmill (SHB), Monte bello, and Santa Rosa. Premium coffee generally grows in Geredia and the Central Valley. Another remarkable coffee is Sarchi coffee (Sarchi is one of the five towns representing Costa Rica's "Coffee Route"), grown on the slopes of Poas Volcano, 53 km from San José. The Sarchi company was founded in 1949 with land area of 30,770 hectares, growing sugarcane and coffee. This region is also famous for handicrafts, attracting tourists from around the world.

The country's coffee industry was originally controlled by the Instituto del Café de Costa Rica (ICAFE) and has now been taken over by the Oficina del Café. Among exported coffees, those deemed unqualified are dyed blue with plant dye and returned for domestic sale. Domestically consumed coffee (dyed blue or undyed) accounts for about 10% of total production, and local per capita coffee consumption is twice that of Italy or the United States.

Coffee produced in Tarrazu has a light, pure flavor with bright acidity and citrus or berry-like aromas. Coffee from this region has extremely high evaluations in the international coffee market. In Tarrazu, there is an extremely rare gourmet coffee bean - La Minita Tarrazu - with limited annual production of about 72,600 kg (160,000 pounds). It is grown on land called La Minita, owned by the British McAlpine family for the past three generations. The main reason it's so highly regarded is that La Minita Tarrazu is grown without artificial fertilizers or pesticides, and its harvesting and selection are done individually by hand (this is to avoid damage to coffee beans that air-jet sorting might cause).

Other high-quality coffees from Costa Rica include Juan Vinas (PR); H. Tournon; Windmill (SHB); Monte bellow; Santa Rosa; FJO Sarchi. Note: Premium Costa Rican coffee beans are called "Strictly Hard Beans," with classification standards as follows:

Strictly Hard Beans (SHB): altitude above 1,200 meters (3,900 feet)

Good Hard Beans (GHB): altitude 1,200-1,000 meters (3,900-3,300 feet)

Medium Hard Beans (MHB): altitude 1,000-500 meters (3,300-1,600 feet)

If you like tea-like light-bodied, sweet-flavored coffee with honeydew melon notes and slight floral aromas, with lemon and nut flavors, Central American Costa Rica honey process beans might suit your taste. Honey processing refers to first using a pulper to remove the outer skin of coffee cherries, then placing the mucilage-covered parchment beans on racks for sun-drying. This water-saving processing method makes coffee taste sweeter and more fragrant.

Located in Costa Rica's fertile volcanic soil Central Valley, Zamora Estate in San Isidro de Heredia is the 2012 Costa Rica C.O.E. Coffee Competition champion farm. The farm is owned by the Rodriguez Carballo family, who have been engaged in coffee production since 1880. This coffee has complex flavors with floral and ripe juicy fruit notes, with a very clean mouthfeel.

Costa Rica Finca Tres Milagros

In the specialty coffee circle, when mentioning the owner of Santo Domingo estate Camilo, most people agree that due to his extraordinary passion for coffee cultivation and innovative experimental spirit, he has become a collaborator with many top baristas worldwide for many years. In 2013, the Facusse family, who had long operated food sales in Costa Rica through the Dinant company, decided to leverage Camilo's successful experience in Colombian estate cultivation to start a completely new estate project in Costa Rica, naming it Finca Tres Milagros. The name "Three Miracles" comes from Camilo's belief that all successful estates must have three factors working together: coffee trees, farmers, and land.

When deciding to start the Costa Rica estate project, location was the most critical factor. After long discussions and land evaluation processes, they finally chose Tarrazu, Costa Rica's highest altitude region. The estate area has an altitude of 1,450-1,750 meters, with volcanic ash soil from Irazu Volcano, providing sufficient nutrients for coffee trees. Meanwhile, Camilo also required the estate to maintain low-density coffee tree cultivation, which helps nutrient absorption and growth of coffee trees, also improving cupping quality. Currently, Tres Milagros Estate has about 120 hectares of cultivation area, with only about 300 bags of top micro-lot production annually. Additionally, the estate's hardware facilities are planned according to four key principles:

First, adopting a Greenhouse System to provide better humidity, temperature, and ventilation for green beans during the sun-drying stage.

Second, an Intercrop System for environmental symbiosis, planting different plants to provide estate biodiversity while helping farmers control the farm ecosystem.

Third, Shade Grown System - most of the estate uses Inga tree species combined with some other local trees, ensuring coffee trees grow in complete shade environment, protecting their growth.

Fourth, selecting the right coffee varieties. Camilo decided at the beginning of estate cultivation to use traditional low-yield but better-flavored coffee varieties. Besides excellent varieties like Bourbon and Geisha, F1 is a new variety recently developed by the French research organization CIRAD in Costa Rica. F1 is a hybrid of Villa Sarchi + Sachimor and Sudan Rume varieties, having not only the traditional Central American Villa Sarchi flavors but also citrus notes from the African Sudan Rume variety.

FrontStreet Coffee · Tres Milagros Bourbon Honey Finca Tres Milagros Bourbon Honey

Country: Costa Rica

Region: Dota, Tarrazu

Altitude: 1450-1750 meters

Processing: Honey Process

Grade: SHB

Variety: Bourbon

Flavor Description: Stone fruit, syrup, brown sugar, honey

FrontStreet Coffee · Tres Milagros F1 Honey Finca Tres Milagros F1 Honey

Country: Costa Rica

Region: Dota, Tarrazu

Altitude: 1450-1750 meters

Processing: Honey Process

Grade: SHB

Variety: F1

Flavor Description: Syrup, apricot, grape, apple juice, smoky aftertaste

La Minita is a world-class famous estate. In the minds of some coffee professionals and baristas, it's superstar-level. Last year's WBC champion, Denmark's Klaus Thomsen, used La Minita as his main espresso blend and also for creative drink structural flavors. This year in Tokyo, contestants indeed used it as well.

Starting this year, the McAlpine family uses "La Minita" as the common quality control标识 for all the estate's green beans. All green beans exported by the group are marked with overlapping seals on burlap bags. Below are the newly arrived La Minita and its seal:

The McAlpine family began managing La Minita in 1967. It can be said that when discussing specialty coffee estates, "La Minita" is always mentioned! In recent years, in SCAA and SCAE cupping courses, instructors almost always mention La Minita when listing mouthfeel or specialty beans. La Minita has not only been popular in Europe for over 50 years but also enjoys a high reputation in the American market!

La Minita has been famous for 7 major characteristics over the years:

【1】Superior geographical conditions and microclimate: Tarrazu is Costa Rica's most famous region, but La Minita has two major rivers, the Tarrazu and Alumbre rivers, which converge in the western mountains of the estate, fully regulating temperature. The estate's west-facing advantage provides favorable conditions - not too cold in the morning and not cooling too quickly in the evening. Rainfall distribution is excellent, with moderate rainfall from flowering to fruiting periods, providing sufficient irrigation and moisture. High-quality clay layers provide ample nutrients. The average altitude of 4,000 to 6,000 feet ensures sufficient bean hardness and high sweetness!

【2】Selecting good varieties: The estate has coffee varieties such as Caturra, Catuai red, Catuai yellow, and Hibrido (hybrid). After cupping quality evaluation and statistical selection, they currently mainly use Caturra and small amounts of old Hibrido.

【3】Strict quality control (1) Implementing rotation and tree replacement systems. All coffee trees follow a five-year rotation - after 4 years of harvesting, the 5th year requires cutting back to only 50 cm to rest and grow before harvesting again! The farm has 1.5 million trees total, with an average of 350,000 trees needing rotation and rest annually! Besides rotation, they also replace trees! Each coffee tree is only harvested for 15 years, after which new trees are planted to ensure quality. They replace 150,000 trees annually and plant shade trees around coffee trees for shade cultivation.

【4】The wet mill processing procedures are very rigorous, and after processing, they use sun-drying followed by machine drying.

【5】Green bean rejection rate exceeds 70%, meaning only less than 29% of green beans can be sold with La Minita estate labeling.

【6】In the final green bean selection stage, 30,000 work hours are used for careful selection. Only qualified beans can use the La Minita label.

【7】Dedication! For example: The three major stages of Harvesting, Pruning, and Processing are all handled with great care. During harvest, La Minita's coffee trees undergo an average of 5 batch harvests because only the ripest cherries are picked. Batch harvesting means labor-intensive work and requires great patience. Pruning refers to rotation planting, ensuring the land doesn't become overly barren and maintaining peak green bean quality without using chemical fertilizers for forced fertilization. Processing refers to the treatment of coffee cherries after harvest. In 2001, La Minita established its own wet mill to maintain consistently insisted-upon quality.

FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rica Sumava de Lourdes

Costa Rica Sumava de Lourdes black honey

FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rica Sumava de Lourdes Caturra Black Honey

Region: West Valley

Estate: Finca Sumava de Lourdes

Variety: Caturra

Altitude: 1700 meters

Processing: Black Honey

Soil: Volcanic geology

Harvest: December to March of the following year

Flavor Description: Brown sugar, floral, citrus, pomelo, sweet spices, rich sweet mouthfeel

Costa Rica's Sumava de Lourdes estate is very young. Francisco Mena, originally engaged in coffee trading, bought this land and preserved most of the original forest, developing only a small part as coffee cultivation area to maintain the estate's natural ecological balance.

Sumava de Lourdes estate's altitude is between 1670-1790 meters, in Costa Rica's another famous region - West Valley, with large temperature differences and fertile soil, very suitable for coffee cultivation.

Estate owner Francisco Mena introduced high-quality varieties that ranked in the top 13 of the Cup of Excellence - Villa Sarchi, a bourbon mutation variety. This is a precious variety bred through red bourbon tree hybridization. It resists strong winds, prefers high-altitude environments, has excellent acidity and various fruit notes, high sweetness, bright and delicate citrus acidity with deeper raisin and nut aromas, with high complexity and excellent balance.

Most of the estate is left as forest to maintain the natural environment. Great care was taken in estate management - for broken wood, rotten wood, and weeds, traditional burning methods are not used. Instead, wood is crushed into fragments and mixed with organic fertilizer for use as farm fertilizer. From the El Chayote reserve in the western valley, in Po's fertile volcanic soil, facing Pacific convection currents and moisture, plus large day-night temperature differences and excellent microclimate, this small 1-square-kilometer area has produced 4 champion estates! Truly a place of outstanding natural beauty and talented people!

Green Bean Analysis

Caturra, varietal Caturra, Coffea arabica var. caturra.

First discovered in São Paulo state, Brazil in 1937, it's a natural mutation of bourbon. Currently widely planted in Brazil, Colombia, and other Central and South American regions.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Recommendations

Yangjia 800N, 550g green beans, specific operation:

Preheat roaster to 200°C, add beans, set damper to 3. After 1 minute of turning yellow, reduce heat to 160°C, keep damper unchanged. At 160°C, reduce heat once more to 135°C. Bake to 5'40", temperature 154.9°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete, keep damper unchanged;

At 9 minutes, bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and black spots, toast aroma clearly changes to coffee aroma, can be defined as prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for first crack sound. At 9'21" first crack begins, reduce heat to 80°C, fully open damper to 5 (be very careful with heat adjustment, don't reduce to no crack sound) 50°C, unload at 193.4°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Flavor

Flavor: Preserved plum, honey, brown sugar, orange blossom, white chocolate

Mouthfeel: Excellent sweetness, gentle fruit acidity, round and full, persistent aftertaste

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Use KEY dripper, 16g coffee to 32g water, bloom for 30 seconds. Extract with 89-90°C water at 1:15 ratio, medium-fine grind (Fuji 3.5). For second pour, add water to 110ml then stop. Wait for water level to drop, then slowly pour water again with even speed, keeping water level not too high. Add water again to 233ml and stop. Extraction time 2:15 seconds - rich sun-dried sweetness. Everyone can make fine adjustments according to their own taste preferences.

Important Notice :

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