Costa Rican Coffee Beans Flavor Characteristics Story - Honey Processed Coffee Beans Brewing Flavor Profile

FrontStreet Coffee has tried numerous specialty coffees, and if we had to choose one country whose coffee flavor represents sweetness, Costa Rican honey-processed coffee beans would undoubtedly be mentioned. The most common processing method for Costa Rican coffee is honey processing. Because of the word "honey," many people mistakenly think that honey is added during processing. In fact, it's the coffee's mucilage, and honey processing is a theoretical general term.

Costa Rica is a classic Central American country. In 1949, Costa Rica abolished all military forces, retaining only police organizations to maintain public order, and declared neutrality. After more than 70 years, Costa Rica has welcomed flourishing development. Similarly, as a major country in the Central American region, coffee is an important component of Costa Rican agriculture.

Beginning in 1832, the local government enacted a law: if coffee farmers planted coffee on any vacant unoccupied land, they could directly own that land. This policy encouraged many people to plant coffee, promoted coffee development, and also led to the current situation where most Costa Rican coffee comes from private estates.

When FrontStreet Coffee considers Costa Rican coffee beans, we find that Costa Rican coffee beans not only maintain the pure taste and cleanliness of American coffees but also highlight admirable sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee believes this benefits from the unique environment—the extension of the Andes Mountains, abundant rainfall brought by sea breezes from the Pacific and Caribbean Seas, and rich volcanic soil. All provide the necessary conditions for producing high-quality coffee. FrontStreet Coffee believes that the honey-like sweetness of Costa Rican coffee is inseparably related to its special processing method. Costa Rica uses honey processing to treat coffee, removing the fruit skin and then spreading it on drying beds to dry, allowing the coffee to fully absorb the sugars from the mucilage, making the coffee beans sweeter.

Costa Rican Coffee Regions

Costa Rica has eight major coffee regions: Western Valley (Valley Central Occidental), Central Valley (Valley Central), Tarrazu, Tres Rios, Orosi, Brunca, and Turrialba.

Among these, the most famous are the Tarrazu region and the Central Valley region. FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican daily coffee beans come from the Tarrazu region.

Major Costa Rican Coffee Varieties

Like many Latin American countries, Costa Rica grows Bourbon-line coffee beans, such as Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai. They also grow the famous Geisha variety, but based on FrontStreet Coffee's multiple bean-seeking experiences, although Costa Rica is closely connected to Panama, Costa Rican Geisha coffee's performance differs from Panama's Geisha. Costa Rica also has unique local varieties—Villalobos and Villasarchi.

Villasarchi is a Bourbon variety. This Bourbon green-top dwarf natural mutant was discovered in Costa Rica in 1950 and subsequently underwent pedigree selection (selecting individual plants through continuous generations). However, this variety was not widely planted in Costa Rica. Instead, in 1974, it was introduced to Honduras by the Honduran Coffee Institute (IHCAFE). In terms of aroma, it's a coffee with quite high complexity, suitable for medium-dark roasting. The dry fragrance after grinding carries the aroma of floral nectar and cherries, mixed with sweet spices like cinnamon.

Villalobos originated in Costa Rica and is a Typica variety. Like Typica, the angle between branches and trunk is 60 degrees, and the leaves are bronze-colored. This variety grows particularly well at high altitudes and has strong wind resistance. It can also grow in poor soil and grows better under shade trees. The most prominent characteristic in its flavor is its excellent sweetness and pleasant acidity.

Costa Rican Coffee Grade Classification

Costa Rican coffee is graded by altitude:

SHB: Strictly Hard Bean, grown at 1500 meters altitude

GHB: Good Hard Bean, grown at 1100-1200 meters

HB: Hard Bean, grown at 1000 meters

High-quality Costa Rican coffee is called "Strictly Hard Bean" (SHB). This coffee can grow above 1500 meters altitude. Generally, the higher the altitude, the better the coffee beans. This is not only because higher altitude increases the coffee beans' acidity, thereby enhancing flavor, but also because the lower night temperatures at higher altitudes slow tree growth, making the coffee beans' flavor more concentrated.

Basically, most Costa Rican single-origin coffee beans purchased domestically are SHB grade.

Costa Rican Honey-Processed Coffee Beans

The honey processing method is called Honey Process or Miel Process, and the resulting coffee is called Honey Coffee. Coffee plantations in countries like Costa Rica, Panama, and Guatemala all use this processing method, with Costa Rican honey-processed coffee beans being particularly well-known. So-called honey processing refers to the process of making raw beans by sun-drying with the mucilage (also called mucilage) intact. After removing the outer fruit flesh of the coffee beans, there's a layer of viscous gelatinous substance (mucilage). Traditional washed processing would wash it away with clean water, but due to water resource limitations in some high-altitude areas, this direct drying method was born.

The taste difference between honey processing and washed processing: honey processing has higher sweetness, higher sugar content, and relatively higher body.

Costa Rican honey-processed coffee beans retain the cleanliness of washed processing. Although the coffee's brightness decreases, it increases sweetness and caramel flavor. According to the degree of honey processing, Costa Rican honey-processed coffee beans are divided into yellow honey, red honey, and black honey processing.

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

Red Honey: About 25% of mucilage is removed; compared to yellow honey, drying time is longer, and direct sun exposure time is reduced, even using shade nets, taking about 12 days.

Black Honey: Retains nearly 80% of mucilage; drying takes the longest time, at least 2 weeks, using coverings to avoid excessive sunlight, preventing too-fast drying and allowing more complete sugar conversion.

The advantage of honey processing is that it best preserves the original sweet flavor of ripe coffee cherries, making the coffee exhibit delicate brown sugar flavors and stone fruit sweetness, while berry flavors also bring out red wine-toned aromas, considered very elegant products.

The biggest difference between honey processing and Brazilian semi-washed processing is that the former uses no water at all, because flawless red cherries must be selected to ensure the mucilage is sweet. The mucilage remover for honey processing requires higher precision and must accurately control the thickness of mucilage removal, similar to a grinder.

However, failed honey-processed coffee will have a strong defective natural flavor, similar to the taste of onions, durian, fermented tofu, and in more severe cases, alcoholic medicinal flavors. Normally honey-processed coffee has soft acidity. If the acidity in the mouth is so strong it makes you pucker, it's not a good product.

Simple summary:

Sweetness: Black Honey > Red Honey > Yellow Honey

Cleanliness: Yellow Honey > Red Honey > Black Honey

Balance: Red Honey = Yellow Honey > Black Honey

Flavor Comparison

FrontStreet Coffee conducted cupping 8 hours after roasting, using 11.3 grams of ground coffee, with grind size passing through Chinese standard #20 sieve at 70-75% rate, water temperature of 94°C, pouring 200ml of water, and breaking the crust and removing grounds after four minutes.

[FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rican Yellow Honey Process Coffee Beans]: Smells of light fermented fruit aroma, with flavors of citrus, cocoa, nuts, honey, and caramel when sipped. The overall flavor is relatively light.

[FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rican Red Honey Process Coffee Beans]: Has a rich fermented red wine aroma, with flavors of pineapple, sweet orange, nectarine, grapes, cream, raisins, and maple syrup when sipped.

[FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rican Black Honey Process Coffee Beans]: Smells of rich jackfruit, raisins, and fermented wine aroma, with flavors of plum, citrus, raisins, caramel, and spices when sipped.

FrontStreet Coffee compared these three honey-processed beans and could clearly feel that the [Black Honey] processed ones have rich fermented aroma, with more abundant fragrance. The [Red Honey] processed ones have slightly weaker aroma, while the [Yellow Honey] processed ones smell of relatively light fermented fruit aroma. In terms of flavor, the [Black Honey] processed ones have obvious sweet and sour sensations, somewhat like juice. The [Red Honey] processed ones are relatively balanced with obvious grape flavor, while the [Yellow Honey] processed ones are cleaner with less fermented flavor, leaning toward citrus-like flavors.

How FrontStreet Coffee Brews FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rican Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee believes that to understand a coffee-producing country's coffee beans, one must start with its washed coffee beans. For this reason, FrontStreet Coffee specially launched the Frontsteet Daily Coffee Bean series, aiming to help more friends who want to understand coffee beans better recognize coffee flavors. For Costa Rica's representative coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee chose a washed coffee bean from the Tarrazu region.

FrontStreet Coffee advocates for freshly roasted coffee beans. Some coffee shops use the gimmick of freshly ground coffee, and many people think this means freshness, but that's not the case. Freshly roasted coffee beans also need a 4-5 day resting period, so that when brewed, they can fully release the coffee's flavor. Of course, if customers don't have grinding tools at home, FrontStreet Coffee will also grind the coffee beans according to their needs (pour-over or espresso), but they need to be consumed quickly as ground coffee powder's flavor dissipates rapidly.

Brewing Parameters for FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rican Tarrazu Coffee Beans

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Parameters: V60 dripper, 15g coffee (one serving), water temperature 90°C, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, grind size (Chinese standard #20 sieve passing rate 80%)

FrontStreet Coffee uses a segmented extraction method, also known as the three-stage pouring method: 30g of water for blooming for 30 seconds, second stage circular pouring to 125g, third stage circular pouring to 225g, total extraction time (including blooming time) 2'00".

Important Notice :

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