Costa Rican Single Origin Coffee Bean Grading, Pricing, Green Beans and Roasting Curve

Costa Rica Coffee Single Origin Bean Grading, Pricing, Green Beans and Roasting Curves

Honey Process: Time-Consuming and Meticulous Method

The honey process method is far from simple—it requires long processing times and careful handling. So what steps does the honey process involve?

First, coffee farmers must select ripe coffee cherries from the coffee trees, then remove the outer fruit pulp, leaving the mucilage layer around the coffee bean as mentioned earlier. This mucilage layer retains high proportions of sugar and acidity, and these sweet and acidic components are key to the honey process.

The next step is the most complex and crucial part of the honey process: sun-drying. Timing must be well-managed, and duration is critical. If the drying time is too short, the mucilage layer won't properly transfer its substances into the coffee beans. However, the time cannot be too long either—action must be quick to avoid internal fermentation that would create moldy beans.

So how to achieve this balance? The beans are placed on sun-drying racks or cement patios. For the first few days, the beans must be turned several times per hour until they reach the desired moisture content. This step typically takes 6-10 hours. For the next 6-8 days, they need to be turned at least once daily. Quite time-consuming, isn't it? The reason the honey process sun-drying takes so long is that the beans absorb moisture from the air each night, requiring more drying time the following day.

Once the coffee drying is complete, it's ready for drying treatment and roasting, similar to other processing methods.

Honey process coffee beans being sun-dried on cement patios

Why is the Honey Process So Wonderful?

Given that the honey process is so difficult to execute well and time-consuming, you might wonder if it's truly worth all the effort?

Without a doubt, it's absolutely worth it.

Honey process coffees typically have an excellent balance of sweetness and fruit acidity. The flavor is generally less intense than natural process coffees but is fresher and more aromatic—why wouldn't you want that?

The key to this flavor difference comes from the sugars and acids in the mucilage layer. During the drying period, the sugars in the mucilage become increasingly concentrated, and these sugars penetrate into the coffee beans.

Yellow Honey, Red Honey, Black Honey: What's the Difference?

When you buy honey process coffee, you typically have choices between yellow honey, red honey, and black honey. You may have heard that these honey processing methods retain different percentages of mucilage, but what does this actually mean?

Coffee farmers classify their coffees, with some retaining less mucilage for faster drying, while others keep more mucilage requiring longer drying times. Yellow honey (retaining about 25% mucilage) must be dried in minimal shade (clouds, shade trees) to complete faster, resulting in a yellow appearance. Red honey (retaining about 50% mucilage) takes longer and needs some shade during drying. Black honey (retaining about 100% mucilage) is typically covered during drying to extend the drying time.

Yellow honey, red honey, and black honey processed coffees (from left to right)

Which is Better: Yellow Honey, Red Honey, or Black Honey?

Black honey might be considered superior, as honey process flavors become more refined and profound with more residual sugars from the mucilage layer. The more mucilage remaining, the more intense the flavor. (This is the original author's viewpoint—Coffee Seedling believes each processing method has its own unique characteristics and varies by personal preference.)

However, coffee producers must face another business consideration. While black honey processing can produce better quality coffee with higher prices, the risks and costs also increase significantly, potentially affecting farmers' willingness to use this method. The longer coffee is dried, the more susceptible it becomes to bacterial growth during fermentation, causing defective moldy beans. It requires more frequent turning and occupies more drying space—up to twice as much as yellow honey processing. It's not just about producing high-quality coffee; it must also be profitable for coffee farmers.

Costa Rica Coffee

What Does Honey Process Mean to You?

Roasters: The Key to Honey Process is Consistency in Mouthfeel and Flavor

Roasters often face the challenge of creating blend recipes or maintaining consistent flavor profiles. This means not only understanding honey process but also other processing methods to help with blend creation. This allows for more precise bean substitution, creating new blends, and narrowing the flavor choices when replacing beans.

However, there are still many variables based on region, processing method, growing altitude, and other conditions that affect and change the final result. Don't blindly buy coffee just because it's honey processed—it might have wonderful sweetness, acidity, and fruity aftertaste, but it's not always the same.

Baristas: Coffee Knowledge is Valuable

Baristas make great coffee for everyone daily, and understanding how coffee is grown, processed, harvested, and roasted from start to finish greatly helps them create better-flavored coffee. This comprehensive knowledge allows them to create tastes even they haven't experienced before. Every cup of coffee is unique—a coffee shop's blend with rich chocolate and caramel flavors might originate from single-origin Ethiopian natural coffee with high sweetness and low acidity before blending.

Know yourself and your customers, approach learning with curiosity—not just for yourself, but for consumers. If you can explain to customers why natural Ethiopian coffee is much sweeter than the washed Indonesian Sumatran coffee they drank last week, they'll be willing to return to your coffee shop. People are curious, and when they believe their barista understands what they want, they'll come back.

Full-bodied beans, ideal acidity, unique and intense aroma.

Tarrazú in Costa Rica is one of the world's major coffee-producing regions. The coffee produced there has a light, pure flavor and pleasant aroma. Costa Rica's volcanic soil is very fertile and well-drained, making it the first Central American country to grow coffee and bananas for commercial purposes. Coffee and bananas are the country's main export commodities. Coffee was introduced to Costa Rica from Cuba in 1729, and today its coffee industry is one of the best-organized in the world, with yields reaching up to 1,700 kg per hectare. With a population of only 3.5 million, Costa Rica has as many as 400 million coffee trees, and coffee exports account for 25% of the country's total export value. Costa Rica also benefits from the Central American Agricultural Research Institute (IAAC) in Turrialba, Tarrazú, which is an important international research center.

High-quality Costa Rican coffee is called "Strictly Hard Beans" (SHB), which can grow at altitudes above 1,500 meters. Altitude has always been a challenge for coffee growers. Higher altitude produces better coffee beans—not only because increased altitude enhances acidity and flavor, but also because lower night temperatures at higher elevations slow tree growth, resulting in more intense coffee flavors. Additionally, the altitude difference creates adequate rainfall, which is very beneficial for coffee tree growth. However, while growing coffee at higher altitudes has many advantages, the additional transportation costs must be considered, which could 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 irregular-sized coffee beans.

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

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 notable coffee is Sarchí coffee (Sarchí represents one of five towns on Costa Rica's "Coffee Route"), grown on the slopes of Poás Volcano, 53 km from San José. The Sarchí company was founded in 1949 with 30,770 hectares of land 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 Costa Rican Coffee Industry Institute (ICAFE) and has now been taken over by the Coffee Official Board (Oficina del Café). Among exported coffees, those deemed unqualified are colored with blue 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.

About Costa Rican Coffee Beans (Central America)

Tarrazú, Costa Rica is one of the world's largest coffee-producing regions, located in the central valley of Costa Rica, south of the capital San Jose. It has very rich high-altitude volcanic soil. Tarrazú is one of Costa Rica's four premium coffee-growing regions, with the other three important regions being Tres Rios, Heredia, and Alajuela.

Coffee from Tarrazú has a light, pure flavor with bright acidity and citrus or berry-like aromas. Coffee from this region receives high praise in the international coffee market. In Tarrazú, there's an extremely rare gourmet coffee bean—La Minita Tarrazú—with limited annual production of about 72,600 kg (160,000 pounds). It's grown on land called La Minita, owned by the British McAlpine family for the last three generations. Its high reputation mainly comes from La Minita Tarrazú being grown without artificial fertilizers or pesticides, and its harvesting and selection are done individually by hand (to avoid damage to coffee beans that can occur with air-jet selection methods).

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

• Strictly Hard Beans (SHB): Above 1,200 meters (3,900 feet)
• Good Hard Beans (GHB): 1,200-1,000 meters (3,900-3,300 feet)
• Medium Hard Beans (MHB): 1,000-500 meters (3,300-1,600 feet)

Sweet Floral Aroma

Costa Rica Honey Process

If you like light-bodied, sweet-tasting coffee with a tea-like mouthfeel, flavors reminiscent of honeydew melon with slight floral notes, plus lemon and nut flavors, honey process beans from Costa Rica in Central America might suit your taste. The honey process refers to removing the outer skin of coffee cherries with a pulper, then placing the parchment beans with mucilage on racks for sun-drying. This water-saving method makes the coffee taste sweeter and more aromatic.

Located in the fertile volcanic soil of Costa Rica's Central Valley, Zamora Estate in San Isidro de Heredia was the 2012 Costa Rica Cup of Excellence competition winner. The farm is owned by the Rodríguez Carballo family, who have been producing coffee since 1880. This coffee has complex flavors with floral notes and ripe, juicy fruit flavors, with a very clean mouthfeel.

Costa Rica Finca Tres Milagros

In specialty coffee circles, when Camilo, the owner of Hacienda San Touario, is mentioned, most agree that his extraordinary passion for coffee cultivation and innovative experimental spirit have made him a collaboration partner for many top baristas worldwide. In 2013, the Facusse family, who had long operated food sales in Costa Rica through their company Dinant, decided to leverage Camilo's successful experience with Colombian estates to start a new estate project in Costa Rica, naming it Finca Tres Milagros. The name "Tres Milagros" (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 crucial factor. After lengthy discussions and land evaluation processes, they finally chose Tarrazú, Costa Rica's highest-altitude region. The estate is located at 1,450-1,750 meters above sea level, with volcanic ash soil from the Irazú Volcano providing abundant nutrients for coffee trees. Camilo also required the estate to maintain low-density coffee tree planting to help with nutrient absorption and growth, improving cupping quality. Currently, Tres Milagros Estate has about 120 hectares under cultivation, with only about 300 bags of premium micro-batch production annually. The estate's hardware facilities are planned around four key points:

First: Adopting a Green House 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, mostly using Inga trees combined with some other local trees, ensuring coffee trees grow in complete shade environments during their development.

Fourth: Selecting the right coffee varieties. When starting the estate, Camilo decided to use traditional low-yield but better-flavored coffee varieties. Besides excellent varieties like Bourbon and Geisha, F1 is a new variety developed in recent years by the French research organization CIRAD in Costa Rica. F1 is a hybrid of Villa Sarchi + Sachimor and Sudan Rume, combining traditional Central American Villa Sarchí flavors with citrus notes from the African Sudan Rume variety.

Finca Tres Milagros Bourbon Honey

• Country: Costa Rica
• Region: Dota, Tarrazú
• Altitude: 1450-1750 meters
• Processing Method: Honey Process
• Grade: SHB
• Variety: Bourbon
• Flavor Notes: Stone fruit, syrup, brown sugar, honey

Finca Tres Milagros F1 Natural

• Country: Costa Rica
• Region: Dota, Tarrazú
• Altitude: 1450-1750 meters
• Processing Method: Natural Process
• Grade: SHB
• Variety: F1
• Flavor Notes: Peach, fruit juice, cranberry juice, very clean

Finca Tres Milagros F1 Honey

• Country: Costa Rica
• Region: Dota, Tarrazú
• Altitude: 1450-1750 meters
• Processing Method: Honey Process
• Grade: SHB
• Variety: F1
• Flavor Notes: Syrup, apricot, grapes, apple juice, smoky aftertaste

Finca Tres Milagros Geisha Natural

• Country: Costa Rica
• Region: Dota, Tarrazú
• Altitude: 1450-1750 meters
• Processing Method: Natural Process
• Grade: SHB
• Variety: Geisha
• Flavor Notes: Citrus peel, orange, clean, excellent sweetness

Finca Tres Milagros Bourbon Washed

• Country: Costa Rica
• Region: Dota, Tarrazú
• Altitude: 1450-1750 meters
• Processing Method: Washed Process
• Grade: SHB
• Variety: Bourbon
• Flavor Notes: Light floral notes, stone fruit, chocolate, hazelnut, citrus, herbal aromas

La Minita is considered a world-class famous estate—among some coffee professionals and baristas, it's at a superstar level. Last year's WBC champion, Klaus Thomsen from Denmark, used La Minita as the main espresso blend and also used it for creative drink flavor structures. This year in Tokyo, contestants indeed used it again.

Starting this year, the McAlpine family uses "La Minita" as the common quality control标识 for all their exported green beans. All green beans exported by the group bear a riding seal on the burlap bags. Below are the recently arrived La Minita and its seal:

The McAlpine family started managing La Minita in 1967. It can be said that when discussing specialty coffee estates, "La Minita" is always mentioned! In recent years' 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: Tarrazú is Costa Rica's most famous region, but La Minita has two major rivers—the Tarrazú and Alumbre rivers—that converge in the estate's western mountain area, fully regulating temperature. The estate's west-facing advantage provides favorable conditions where mornings aren't too cold and evenings don't cool too quickly... Rainfall distribution is excellent, with moderate irrigation from flowering to fruiting periods. High-quality clay layers provide sufficient nutrients. The average altitude of 4,000 to 6,000 feet ensures hard beans with high sweetness!

The following image shows the estate's rivers and spectacular waterfalls:

2. Selecting good varieties: The estate has Caturra, Catuai red, Catuai yellow, and Hibrido (hybrid) coffee varieties. After cupping quality and statistical selection, they currently focus on Caturra and small amounts of old Hibrido.

3. Strict quality control (1): Adopting rotation and tree replacement systems. All coffee trees follow a five-year rotation—after 4 years of harvesting, the 5th year requires cutting trees to only 50 centimeters to rest and grow before re-harvesting! The farm has 1.5 million trees, with an average of 350,000 trees needing rotation and rest annually! Besides rotation, trees are also replaced! Each coffee tree is harvested for only 15 years, after which new trees are planted to ensure quality. 150,000 trees are replaced annually, and shade trees are planted around coffee trees for shade cultivation.

4. Wet mill procedures are extremely rigorous, and after processing, they use sun-drying followed by machine drying.

The following image shows an aerial view of the wet mill and some of its equipment:

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

6. In the final green bean selection stage, 30,000 work hours are used for meticulous selection—only qualified beans can use the La Minita label.

The following image shows manual selection in the final stage:

7. Dedication! For example: the three major stages of Harvesting, Pruning, and Processing are all handled with extreme care. During harvest periods, La Minita's coffee trees undergo an average of 5 batch harvests, as only the most mature cherries are picked. Batch harvesting means labor-intensive work requiring great patience. Pruning refers to rotation systems, ensuring soil doesn't become overly depleted while maintaining peak green bean quality without chemical fertilizers. Processing refers to post-harvest treatment. In 2001, La Minita established its own wet mill to maintain consistently insisted-upon quality.

The image shows estate management introducing coffee trees and pruning processes, with La Minita beans being bagged on the other side:

This year, La Minita's spicy sweetness and berry flavors remain excellent! The clean, complex flavors generally maintain their consistent style, especially with more Tokyo WBC competitors using it as a blend bean, showcasing her charming diverse flavors through various techniques—this is La Minita!

Below is the 2007 La Minita cupping report: (Osho M0 roast level, roasted on Japanese Fuji 1kg roaster, 11 minutes total)

• Country: Costa Rica
• Region: Tarrazú
• Estate: La Minita
• Harvest Period: February 2007
• Varieties: Caturra, Old Hibrido
• Processing Method: Washed fermentation, followed by sun-drying then low-temperature drying
• Grade: SHB
• Appearance/Defects: Green, 0 defects/350g
• Dry Aroma: Similar to light perfume scent, high mountain tea aroma, candy sweetness, berry fruit acidity with apple notes, grapes, clean and elegant aroma
• Wet Aroma: Multiple berry aromas, caramel, cream, floral notes, slight spice hints
• Slurping: Berry lime acidity, caramel, good oily sensation, light apple aroma in nasal cavity, sweet melon, tea aroma, pomelo sweet-sourness, clean aftertaste with unique spicy sweetness, mouthfeel not puckering and quite saliva-inducing

Price

Bulk discount price (details)

Costa Rica Tarrazu SHB Montanas del Diamante Estate

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Linking Coffee, which specializes in importing and selling green coffee beans from various countries, introduced a new Costa Rica Tarrazú region Diamond Mountain Estate in their April price list. It's marked as high-altitude strictly hard beans grown at 1,800 meters. Although packed in burlap bags, it has multiple inner plastic bags (GrainPro Bags), suggesting certain quality levels. The price is also reasonable, so we started with a 5kg small package for roasting.

Meanwhile, information found online about Costa Rica Diamond Mountain is as follows:

• ORIGIN: Costa Rica
• REGION: Tarrazú
• SUBREGION: Dota Valley
• PRODUCER: Montanas Del Diamante Estate/Gutierrez Family
• PLANT SPECIES: Arabica
• PROCESSING METHOD: Washed
• PROCESSING DESCRIPTION: The coffee is fully washed and patio dried.
• WET MILL NAME: Montanas del Diamante Mill
• COFFEE GRADE: SHB EP
• SCREEN SIZE: 15 Up
• GROWING ALTITUDE: 1750-1850m
• ANNUAL RAINFALL (MM): 250
• SOIL TYPE: Volcanic
• PLANT VARIETAL(S): Red Catuai
• TYPES: Estate Coffees, Grain Pro / Ecotact

Other websites also mention that most varieties grown here are Red Catuai, which is a hybrid of Caturra and Mundo Novo. These green beans are not particularly large, about screen size 15—wonder if this is characteristic of this variety?

This batch wasn't roasted very light, about 3 minutes into first crack before ending, so the overall acidity is much milder. The aroma isn't very prominent—this was noticeable even from the green beans—but the mouthfeel cleanliness is quite satisfying. The smooth citrus acidity should be acceptable even to friends who don't usually drink acidic coffee; the brown sugar honey sweetness and cocoa notes linger long in the mouth.

In recent years, Costa Rica hasn't disappointed anyone, with cost-performance ratio far surpassing Guatemala. Whether used as single origin or in blends, it's an excellent choice.

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Contact: 02-23583032

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Have you ever wondered what coffee honey processing is? (This article only discusses red honey processing) Is it better than other processing methods you're used to drinking?

This article explores what honey processing is, its characteristics, and what it means differently for baristas and roasters.

Why is it Called Honey Process?

The main coffee processing methods fall into three categories: natural, washed, and honey process. Natural process involves directly sun-drying coffee cherries before removing the outer shell and mucilage layer. Washed process removes the coffee pulp before drying and uses fermentation to remove the mucilage layer. Honey process is between natural and washed methods: coffee pulp is removed while retaining the mucilage layer for direct sun-drying.

So you might ask, where's the honey?

The term "honey process" makes many think this method uses honey to process coffee, or that this coffee tastes as sweet as honey, but neither explanation is correct. The meaning of honey process comes from the very sticky mucilage layer on coffee beans before drying—the sticky feeling resembles honey. When coffee fruit separates from coffee beans, the surrounding mucilage layer becomes sticky as it absorbs moisture from the air during drying.

When coffee is pulped, a mucilage layer remains around the coffee beans.

Why is Honey Process Popular Among Coffee Farmers?

Honey processing began when someone noticed this method could continuously improve their coffee bean quality, originating in Costa Rica, and this processing method is now trending.

So why did Costa Rican coffee farmers initially want to use honey processing? When coffee farmers want to improve their coffee quality or price, they have three choices: change coffee varieties, change growing altitude, or change processing methods. Like most people brewing coffee who first try simpler methods like adjusting grind size and dose before considering coffee machine water volume, pressure, and temperature; most coffee farmers also want to change processing methods first before considering growing new varieties or moving estates—methods that require investment of time and money.

Costa Rica coffee Mozart raisin double honey process Itara Caneite Baha coffee beans

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Costa Rica red honey process Tobosi estate Caturra specialty coffee single origin

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