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Costa Rican Coffee Single Origin Varieties, Brand Recommendations, and Estate Introductions

What is Honey Process Coffee?

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

This article will explore 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 processing involves directly drying coffee cherries after removing the outer shell and mucilage layer. Washed processing removes the coffee pulp before drying and uses fermentation to remove the mucilage layer. Honey processing falls between natural and washed methods: the coffee pulp is removed while retaining the mucilage layer, which is then dried.

So you might ask, where's the honey?

The term "honey process" makes many people think this method uses honey to process coffee, or that coffee processed this way tastes sweet as honey, but neither of these explanations is correct. The meaning of honey process comes from the very sticky mucilage layer of coffee beans before drying - the sticky feeling resembles honey. When coffee pulp separates from coffee beans, the surrounding mucilage layer absorbs moisture from the air during drying, making it sticky.

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

Why is Honey Process Popular Among Coffee Farmers?

Honey processing began when someone discovered that this processing method could consistently 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 the coffee variety, change the growing altitude, or change the processing method. Like most people brewing coffee who prefer simpler methods like adjusting grind size and dose, then adjusting water volume, pressure, and temperature on the coffee machine, most coffee farmers also want to change processing methods first, before considering growing new varieties or moving their estate - methods that require investing time and money.

Honey Processing is Time-Consuming and Demanding

Honey processing is not simple - it requires long hours and careful handling. What steps does honey processing include?

First, coffee farmers must select ripe coffee cherries from coffee trees, then remove the outer pulp, keeping the mucilage layer around the coffee beans as mentioned earlier. The mucilage layer retains high proportions of sugar and acidity, and these sweet and acidic elements are key to honey processing.

The next steps are the most complex and demanding part of honey processing: drying. Timing must be well-managed - duration is critical. If drying time is too short, the mucilage substances cannot transfer into the coffee beans, but time cannot be too long either - action must be quick to avoid internal fermentation and moldy beans.

So how to achieve balance? Place beans on drying racks or concrete floors. For the first few days, beans must be turned several times every hour until reaching the desired moisture content - this step usually takes 6-10 hours. For the next 6-8 days, beans need to be turned at least once daily. Time-consuming, right? The reason honey process drying takes so long is that beans absorb moisture from the air every night, requiring more drying time the next day.

When coffee drying is complete, it's ready for dry processing and roasting, similar to other processing methods.

Honey process coffee being dried on concrete floor

Why is Honey Process So Wonderful?

Given that honey processing is so difficult to do well and time-consuming, you might wonder if it's really worth it?

Without a doubt, absolutely worth it.

Honey processed coffee generally has excellent balance between sweetness and fruit acidity. The flavor is typically less intense than natural process coffee but fresher and mellow - why not?

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

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

When buying honey process coffee, you usually have choices of yellow honey, red honey, and black honey. You may have heard that these honey processing methods retain different percentages of mucilage layer - what does this mean?

Coffee farmers classify coffee beans - some retain less mucilage layer for faster drying, while others retain more mucilage requiring longer drying time. Yellow honey (retaining about 25% mucilage) requires minimal shade environment (clouds, shade trees) during drying to complete faster, resulting in yellow appearance. Red honey (retaining about 50% mucilage) takes longer and needs some shade for drying. Black honey (retaining about 100% mucilage) usually requires covering to extend drying time.

Yellow honey, red honey, black honey processed coffee (left to right)

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

Perhaps black honey is superior. Honey process flavor is more finely and deeply influenced by the residual sugar in the mucilage layer - the more mucilage retained, the more intense the flavor. (This is the original author's viewpoint. Coffee Seedling believes each processing method has its own characteristic flavors, varying by personal preference.)

However, coffee producers must face another commercial consideration: while black honey processing yields better quality and higher-priced coffee, risks and costs also increase significantly, potentially affecting farmers' willingness to use black honey processing. The longer coffee drying time, the more likely bacteria will grow during fermentation, causing defective moldy beans. More frequent turning is required, occupying more drying space - up to twice that of yellow honey processing. It's not just about producing high-quality coffee, but also helping coffee farmers produce the most profitable coffee.

Costa Rican Coffee

So What Does Honey Processing Mean to You?

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

Roasters often face challenges in creating blend recipes or maintaining specific flavor profiles as consistently as possible. This means not only understanding honey processing but also other processing methods to help with blend creation. They can more accurately substitute beans, create new blends, and narrow flavor choices when replacing beans.

However, there are still many different variables affecting and changing based on region, processing method, growing altitude, and other conditions. Don't blindly buy coffee just because it's honey processed - it may have wonderful sweetness, acidity, and fruity aftertaste, but it's not always the same.

Baristas: Coffee Knowledge is Valuable

Baristas make good coffee for everyone daily, and knowing how coffee is grown, processed, harvested, and roasted from start to finish greatly helps them make better-flavored coffee. Through comprehensive understanding, they can 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 come from single origins with high sweetness and low acidity, like natural Ethiopian coffee.

Know yourself and know your audience - absorb knowledge from all sources with a learning mindset, not just for yourself but also for consumers. If you can tell consumers why natural Ethiopian coffee is much sweeter than the washed Indonesian Sumatran coffee they drank last week, consumers will be willing to return to your coffee shop. People are curious - when they believe their barista knows what they want, they'll come back.

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

Costa Rica's Tarrazú is one of the world's major coffee-producing regions, producing coffee with light, pure flavor and 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 most organized in the world, with yields 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 (IAAC) in Turrialba, 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 it increases acidity and thus flavor, but also because lower nighttime temperatures at higher elevations slow tree growth, resulting in more intense coffee flavor. Additionally, altitude differences create sufficient rainfall, very beneficial for coffee tree growth. However, while 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 irregular-sized coffee beans.

Tarrazú is located south of the country's capital San José and is one of the country's most valued coffee-growing areas. "La Minita Tarrazú" coffee is a local specialty 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 past 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, with harvesting and selection 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 Poas 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 Instituto del Café de Costa Rica (ICAFE) and is now managed 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, with local per capita coffee consumption twice that of Italy or the United States.

About Costa Rican Coffee Beans (Central America)

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

Coffee produced in Tarrazú has light, pure flavor with bright acidity and citrus or berry-like aromas. Coffee from this region receives extremely high praise in the international coffee market. In Tarrazú, there's an extremely hard-to-find 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 past three generations. Its high reputation mainly comes from La Minita Tarrazú being grown without artificial fertilizers or pesticides, with harvesting and selection done individually by hand (this avoids 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" with the following classification standards:

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

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

Costa Rica Finca Tres Milagros

In specialty coffee circles, when mentioning Santa Teresa estate owner Camilo, most agree that due to his extraordinary passion for coffee cultivation and innovative experimental spirit, he has become a collaboration partner for many top baristas worldwide. In 2013, the Facusse family, long involved in food sales in Costa Rica through their company Dinant, decided to leverage Camilo's successful estate cultivation experience in Colombia 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 cooperating factors: coffee trees, farmers, and land.

When deciding to start the Costa Rica estate project, location was the most decisive factor. After long discussions and land evaluation processes, they finally chose Costa Rica's highest altitude region - Tarrazu. The estate's altitude ranges from 1,450 to 1,750 meters, with volcanic ash soil from Irazu Volcano providing sufficient nutrients for coffee trees. Camilo also required maintaining low-density coffee tree cultivation to help nutrient absorption and growth, improving cupping flavors. Currently, Finca Tres Milagros has about 120 hectares of cultivation area, with annual top-tier micro-batch production of only about 300 bags. The estate's hardware facilities follow four main principles:

First: Green House System provides better humidity, temperature, and ventilation for green beans during sun-drying.

Second: Intercrop System uses different plants to provide estate ecological diversity while helping farmers control farm ecology.

Third: Shade Grown System mostly uses Inga species with some other local trees, ensuring coffee trees grow in complete shade environment.

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

Finca Tres Milagros Bourbon Honey

■ Country: Costa Rica

■ Region: Dota, Tarrazu

■ Altitude: 1,450-1,750 meters

■ Processing: Honey Process

■ Grade: SHB

■ Variety: Bourbon

■ Flavor Notes: Stone fruit, syrup, brown sugar, honey

Finca Tres Milagros F1 Natural

■ Country: Costa Rica

■ Region: Dota, Tarrazu

■ Altitude: 1,450-1,750 meters

■ Processing: Natural

■ Grade: SHB

■ Variety: F1

■ Flavor Notes: Peach, fruit juice, cranberry juice, excellent clarity

Finca Tres Milagros F1 Honey

■ Country: Costa Rica

■ Region: Dota, Tarrazu

■ Altitude: 1,450-1,750 meters

■ Processing: Honey Process

■ Grade: SHB

■ Variety: F1

■ Flavor Notes: Syrup, apricot, grape, apple juice, smoky aftertaste

Finca Tres Milagros Geisha Natural

■ Country: Costa Rica

■ Region: Dota, Tarrazu

■ Altitude: 1,450-1,750 meters

■ Processing: Natural

■ Grade: SHB

■ Variety: Geisha

■ Flavor Notes: Citrus peel, orange, clean, excellent sweetness

Finca Tres Milagros Bourbon Washed

■ Country: Costa Rica

■ Region: Dota, Tarrazu

■ Altitude: 1,450-1,750 meters

■ Processing: Washed

■ Grade: SHB

■ Variety: Bourbon

■ Flavor Notes: Light floral notes, stone fruit, chocolate, hazelnut, citrus, herbal aromas

La Minita is a world-class famous estate - in the eyes of some coffee professionals and baristas, it's top-tier. Last year's WBC champion, Denmark's Klaus Thomsen, used La Minita as his main espresso blend and for creative drink structure flavors. This year in Tokyo, contestants again adopted it.

Starting this year, the McAlpine family uses "La Minita" as the common quality control标识 for all their green beans. All exported green beans have this标识 stamped on burlap bags. Here are the newly arrived La Minita and its标识:

The McAlpine family started managing La Minita in 1967. You could say that when discussing specialty coffee estates, "La Minita" is always mentioned! In recent years of SCAA and SCAE cupping courses, instructors almost always mention La Minita when listing mouthfeel or specialty beans. La Minita not only has been popular in Europe for over 50 years but also enjoys high reputation in American markets!

La Minita has been famous for 7 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 - Tarrazu River and Alumbre River - converging in the estate's western mountain area, fully regulating temperature. The 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 during flowering to fruiting periods. High-quality clay layers provide sufficient nutrients, and average altitude of 4,000-6,000 feet ensures bean hardness and high sweetness!

The image below shows estate rivers and spectacular waterfalls:

【2】Selected good varieties: The estate grows Caturra, Catuai red, Catuai yellow, and Hibrido (hybrid) varieties. After cupping quality and statistical selection, it now primarily grows Caturra and small amounts of old Hibrido.

【3】Strict quality control (1) Rotation and replanting system: All coffee trees follow a five-year rotation - after 4 years of harvest, the 5th year must be cut back to only 50cm to rest and regrow before harvesting again! The farm has 1.5 million trees, with about 350,000 needing rotation cutting annually! Besides rotation, replanting is also needed! Each coffee tree is harvested for only 15 years, then replaced with new plants 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 very rigorous, with initial sun-drying followed by machine drying.

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

【5】Green bean rejection rate exceeds 70%, meaning less than 29% can be sold with La Minita estate标识

【6】Final green bean selection stage requires 30,000 work hours for careful selection - only qualified beans can use the La Minita标识

The image below shows manual selection in the final stage:

【7】Care and attention! For example: Harvesting, Pruning, and processing stages are all handled with great care. During harvest, La Minita's coffee trees undergo about 5 separate harvests because only fully ripe cherries are picked. Separate harvesting means labor-intensive and requires great patience. Pruning refers to rotation - this system ensures soil doesn't become over-depleted and maintains green bean quality peaks without chemical fertilizers. Processing refers to post-harvest coffee processing. In 2001, La Minita established its own wet mill to maintain consistently insisted-upon quality.

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

This year, La Minita's spice sweetness and berry fruit flavors remain! Clean and complex flavors generally maintain consistent style, especially with more Tokyo WBC competitors using it as blend coffee, each showing skills and presenting her charming diverse flavors - this is La Minita!

Below is the 2007 La Minita cupping report: (Osso M0 roast level, Japanese Fuji 1kg roaster, 11 minutes completion)

Country: Costa Rica Region: Tarrazú Estate: La Minita

Harvest: February 2007

Varieties: caturra, old hibrido Processing: Washed fermentation, initial sun-drying followed by low-temperature drying

Grade: SHB Appearance/Defects: Green 0d/350g

Dry Aroma: Light perfume-like aroma, high mountain tea fragrance, candy sweetness, berry fruit acidity with apple notes, grape, clean and elegant aroma

Wet Aroma: Multiple berry fruit aromas, caramel, cream, floral notes, slight spice notes

Slurping: Berry lime acidity, caramel aroma, good body/texture, light apple aroma in nose, melon, tea fragrance, grapefruit sweet-tart, clean aftertaste with unique spice sweetness, mouthfeel not astringent with good salivation.

Price

Bulk discount price (details)

Costa Rica Tarrazu SHB Montanas del Diamante Estate

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Linking Coffee, specializing in importing and selling green coffee beans from various countries, introduced a new Costa Rica Tarrazú region Diamante Mountain estate in their April price list, marked as high-altitude extremely hard beans grown at 1,800 meters. Although packed in burlap bags, there are multiple inner plastic bags (GrainPro Bag), suggesting quality should be at a certain level, with approachable pricing. First trying a 5kg small package for roasting.

Simultaneously, online search results for Costa Rica Diamante Mountain are as follows:

ORIGIN: Costa Rica

REGION: Tarrazu

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

Another website mentions that most varieties grown here are Red Catuai, a hybrid of Caturra and Mundo Novo. This batch of green beans isn't large, about 15 screen size - I wonder if this is a characteristic of this variety?

This time wasn't roasted very light - roast level was about 3 minutes after first crack, so overall acidity is much milder. Aroma isn't very prominent - noticeable even from green beans. However, mouthfeel cleanliness is quite satisfying, with soft citrus acidity that even friends who don't drink acidic coffee can accept. Later brown sugar honey sweetness and cocoa flavors linger long in the mouth.

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

Costa Rica, Tarrazú region, Diamante Mountain Estate, coffee beans, green beans, Linking Coffee, Costa Rica Diamante Mountain

Costa Rica Coffee Mozart Raisin Double Honey Process Et Tarrazu Canelet Baha Coffee Beans

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Costa Rica Red Honey Process Tobosi Estate Caturra Premium Single Origin Coffee

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Important Notice :

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Tel:020 38364473