Costa Rica Tarrazu Coffee Bean Varieties: Geisha, Caturra, and Catuai Differences

As one of the most charming and beautiful countries in Central America, Costa Rica is a top choice for tourism in the eyes of ordinary people. However, if you're a coffee drinker, you should be more interested in its thriving coffee industry. FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican coffee can be described as "sweet as honey." Whether it's our daily blend beans, Hacienda Mirasu, the Musician Series, or the recently introduced Blueberry, when discerning customers want to drink sweet pour-over coffee, FrontStreet Coffee always brings out Costa Rican coffee to save the day. Today, let's talk about Blueberry—friends who love this coffee bean shouldn't miss it!

Blueberry: Costa Rica's Stone Manor Gem

FrontStreet Coffee: Costa Rica · Stone Manor Blueberry

Region: Brunca, Costa Rica

Estate: Stone Manor

Altitude: 1700-1800 meters

Processing: Anaerobic Double Honey Process

Varieties: Caturra, Catuai

Blueberry, as those who have tried it know, is a very special coffee. The dry aroma reveals delicate rose floral notes, elegant and refined. At the first sip, a blueberry gummy texture bursts in your mouth. As the juicy sensation fades, a cooling mint effect provides a second冲击. Simply intoxicating!

The Brunca Coffee Region

Through this coffee, FrontStreet Coffee wants to test everyone's knowledge. Do you know how many coffee regions Costa Rica has besides Brunca? Despite Costa Rica's relatively small area (compared to China), it actually has 8 coffee regions: Central Valley, West Valley, Tres Rios, Tarrazú, Turrialba, Orosi, Guanacaste, and Brunca. Setting aside the other seven regions, let me introduce the Brunca coffee region, where coffee production accounts for about one-fifth of the country's total coffee output. Brunca is a mid-altitude region where coffee is grown at approximately 800-1200 meters above sea level. Most coffee crops in this region are HB grade or higher.

Stone Manor: A Historical Treasure

According to FrontStreet Coffee's research, Stone Manor is located in southern Costa Rica, bordering Panama, and has diverse microclimates, making it extremely suitable for coffee cultivation. Due to the lower altitude in this region, coffee production here is basically carried out on hillside farms at elevations between 800-1700 meters, with an average temperature of 22°C. The local conditions meet the demanding growing environment required for flavor-intensive coffee. The total coffee cultivation area is about 12,000 hectares, distributed across 4,200 farms, with coffee accounting for approximately 20% of the country's total coffee production.

So how did Stone Manor get its name? A large number of carvings created by indigenous peoples between 200 BC and 1500 AD were unearthed near the estate, which is why the estate was named after these massive stones.

Anaerobic Double Honey Processing

The processing method for Blueberry is also a point of confusion for many customers. When it comes to Costa Rican honey processing, you probably know something about it. Honey processing is actually a method between natural and washed processing, designed to help coffee farmers produce sweeter dried coffee in shorter time while effectively reducing the risk of accidental over-fermentation. After removing the fruit skin, the mucilage in the coffee fruit is retained and naturally dried until the moisture content drops to 11%.

The anaerobic double honey processing is slightly more complex than honey processing. After harvesters pick perfectly ripe coffee cherries, they soak them in plastic tanks, removing leaves, impurities, and coffee cherries with insufficient density. Before the first fermentation stage, prepared cultures are added: yeast, lactic acid, sucrose, blueberry fructose, orange juice, mint juice, etc. The first fermentation stage lasts 30 hours, which enhances the coffee's sweetness and fruity characteristics. After removing the fruit skin, place them in round plastic tanks, add the prepared culture liquid, and introduce carbon dioxide while controlling the pH value. Cool nights allow the coffee beans to ferment longer without worrying about the risk of over-fermentation. The resulting coffee has a very clean taste, high body, with rich cherry sweetness and typical Costa Rican sweet fruit aromas. After anaerobic fermentation ends, the second stage of honey fermentation begins. During the day, the beans with mucilage are placed on African beds and sun-dried at temperatures below 40°C. After 8 hours of sun-drying, the fruit is placed in a greenhouse to rest for 12 hours. This process repeats for 20-25 days. When the moisture content of the green coffee beans reaches 15%, they enter a stabilization period. The green coffee beans are packed in inner bags with outer cloth bags and left in this state for a month.

Other Costa Rican Coffee Recommendations

Besides Blueberry, what other Costa Rican coffees are worth buying? FrontStreet Coffee enthusiastically recommends Costa Rica's daily blend—Tarrazú. How about this? Using the region name directly for the coffee beans, where one bean represents the entire region's flavor. This is FrontStreet Coffee's original intention for creating daily blend beans. FrontStreet Coffee's daily blend series is a group of high-value regional beans. While they may not match estate-specific beans in some aspects, through this series, you can experience the main flavors of major regions at a great value, allowing coffee beginners to identify their preferred regions at a very low price.

Tarrazú Region Characteristics

Let's take FrontStreet Coffee's daily blend to explore this region! Costa Rica's Tarrazú growing region is locally known as "Los Santos" because its cantons (similar to towns) are named after various saints. Tarrazú is about a two-hour drive from San José, with roads winding around mountainsides and coffee plantations everywhere. Tarrazú is an ideal place for growing Arabica coffee beans. The region is famous for producing coffee with distinct acidity qualities, mainly because the diamine composition in this area plays a significant role. Additionally, the altitude of 1200-1900 meters creates diverse microclimates for coffee cultivation here.

The main varieties grown in this region are Caturra and Catuai. Caturra is a natural mutation of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. The tree is shorter than Bourbon, and while it inherited Bourbon's weaker resistance, its yield is higher than Bourbon. Caturra's flavor mainly presents fruity characteristics with berry-like acidity. Catuai is a hybrid of Mundo Novo and Caturra, inheriting Caturra's short tree characteristics but with higher resistance and firm fruit that doesn't easily fall off. In terms of flavor, Catuai is more monotonous than Caturra, with nutty notes as the main characteristic and lacking Caturra's rich layering. The combination of these two varieties makes Tarrazú coffee more balanced and smooth.

Brewing Costa Rican Coffee

So how should we brew Costa Rican coffee beans? FrontStreet Coffee believes it's better to start with standard brewing methods:

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Parameters:

V60 Dripper

Water Temperature: 91°C

Water to Coffee Ratio: 1:15

Coffee Amount: 15g

Grind Size: (China No. 20 standard sieve 80% pass-through rate)

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Technique: Use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour with a small water flow in a circular motion to 125g for segmentation. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the dripper. (Timing starts from the bloom) Extraction time: 2'00".

By referring to the relevant information about coffee beans and flavor descriptions on FrontStreet Coffee packaging, everyone can try at home to identify the various flavors and texture characteristics in the coffee.

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Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473