Costa Rica Tarrazu Baha Raisin Honey Process Coffee Beans - Flavor Characteristics

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Costa Rican Coffee

Coffee produced in Costa Rica is always so captivating, sweet yet containing strength, making you unable to resist exploring all it has to offer after just one taste. Honey processing is Costa Rica's most famous processing method because it allows the country's coffee to maximally exhibit high sweetness, leaving a lasting impression after drinking.

Costa Rican Coffee History

Coffee from Costa Rica comes from the Republic of Costa Rica in southern Central America. Its flavor is similar to Colombian coffee. Coffee is an important economic source for Costa Rica, introduced in 1808, and has over two hundred years of history. Approximately one-third of Costa Rica's population participates in coffee bean cultivation. Although the country ranks third from last in area among Central American nations, its economy exceeds that of more than half the countries in the region.

In 1729, coffee was introduced to Costa Rica from Cuba. Costa Rica has a population of 3.5 million but as many as 400 million coffee trees. Coffee exports account for twenty-five percent of the country's total exports. Costa Rica's volcanic soil is fertile and well-drained, particularly the soil in the central highlands, which contains several layers of volcanic ash and dust.

Tarrazú Growing Region

Tarrazú is located south of the country's capital San José and is the main coffee-producing area of Costa Rica, as well as one of the world's major coffee-producing regions. The coffee-growing soil is extremely fertile and well-drained. Although coffee production is small, it has been owned by the McAlpine family of the UK for the last three generations. The Tarrazú region has the highest average latitude, excellent climate, and soil conditions, making it the most famous and generally recognized as the best major coffee-producing region in Costa Rica.

The Tarrazú region is the most intensive fruit-growing area in Costa Rica. The estates mainly cultivate passion fruit, with coffee production being quite small. However, coffee beans from this region are mostly processed using red honey, black honey, and yellow honey methods. The sweetness and berry aroma will absolutely surprise you, with excellent sweetness, consistency, and thickness, exhibiting flavors reminiscent of dried banana.

Canet Estate

Canet Estate is a small 5-hectare farm located in the town of San Marcos in the Tarrazú region, owned by the Robles brothers Leo, Elian, and Melvin. They have worked together in cultivation and production for over 10 years and also share a small wet processing mill (Beneficio).

Canet Estate is located in the highest altitude coffee-growing area of Costa Rica's Tarrazú region. This area is the most intensive fruit-growing region in Costa Rica. The estate owners mainly cultivate passion fruit, with coffee production being quite scarce. Only a specific area is dedicated to coffee cultivation, receiving special care and harvesting only mature red cherry fruits.

Varieties: Bourbon Varietal Caturra

Caturra is a single-gene variant of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its yield capacity and disease resistance are both better than Bourbon. The plants are shorter, making harvesting convenient. Unfortunately, it encounters the same problem as Bourbon—bearing fruit one year and resting the next. Its flavor is comparable to or slightly inferior to Bourbon beans. However, more importantly, it has extremely strong adaptability, not requiring shade trees and thriving directly under intense sun exposure, commonly known as "Sun Coffee." It can adapt to high-density planting but requires more fertilization, increasing costs, so initial acceptance among coffee farmers was not high.

Caturra is suitable for low altitudes of 700 meters to high altitudes of 1700 meters, but the higher the altitude, the better the flavor, though bean production decreases accordingly. There are also yellow Caturra variants in Central and South America, but their reputation is not as good as that of Yellow Bourbon.

Costa Rican Altitude Classification

Costa Rica classifies coffee by altitude grades:

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 Beans," which can grow at altitudes above 1500 meters. Generally, the higher the altitude, the better the coffee beans. This is 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.

Raisin Honey Processing Method

Retains 100% mucilage and zero water processing method.

This increases the difficulty of honey processing, requiring strict time control. On the day of harvesting coffee cherries, the harvested coffee fruits are poured into large water tanks. Mature, full fruits will sink to the bottom; underdeveloped or overripe fruits will float to the surface and need to be removed. The selected coffee fruits are placed on raised beds to dry for at least three days, then the cherry skin is removed, preserving the mucilage before further drying. At this stage, climate factors are key to successful honey processing.

During the drying process, these coffee cherries must be constantly turned to ensure even drying, but the turning frequency must be carefully controlled to dry slowly and ensure proper fermentation, but not so slow as to cause over-fermentation.

Yellow Catuai (Catuai Amarillo) comes from a cross between Mundo Novo and Caturra, first cultivated in 1949 by Brazil's "Instituto Agronomico de Campinas." Like Red Catuai (Catuai Rojo), Yellow Catuai has extremely high disease resistance and is suitable for cultivation at high altitudes and windy areas.

Both Catuai varieties have very delicate and clean acidity. Through machine adjustments, they produce red honey, yellow honey, and black honey processed coffee (depending on the degree of honey processing). Canet is located in the highest altitude coffee-growing area of Costa Rica's Tarrazú region. This area is the most intensive fruit-growing region in Costa Rica. The estate owners mainly cultivate passion fruit, with coffee production being quite scarce. Only in a specific area is coffee cultivated, receiving special care and harvesting only mature red cherry fruits.

Roasting Profile

The roaster is a Yangjia Pegasus 800N from Taiwan, a semi-direct fire type, with maximum airflow of 5 and a charge of 300 grams.

Charge temperature: 180°C. Return point: 1'43", temperature 94.2°C. Yellowing point: 6'15", temperature 151.5°C. First crack: 9'40", temperature 183.3°C. Development time after first crack: 1'45". Drop temperature: 196°C.

Agtron bean color value: 67.7 (above image). Agtron ground color value: 78 (below image). Roast Delta value: 10.3.

Roasting Approach

This FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Bahia coffee bean consists of the two most common varieties in Central and South America: Caturra and Catuai. The green beans have a fermented fruit aroma. Observing the green beans, they appear dark green, grown at around 1,950M altitude, with relatively hard bean texture. Being from the 2019 harvest season, the beans have relatively high moisture content. The roasting approach uses a gradual heat reduction and extended dehydration time along this curve. Considering that this "FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Musician Bahia" uses double-fermented raisin honey processing, the roast degree is designed as medium roast, mainly to highlight the bean's fermented aroma and fruit flavors while preserving the balanced and full-bodied texture typical of honey-processed beans.

Taking FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Bahia Coffee Beans as an Example

FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Bahia Coffee Bean Cupping Notes

It smells like fermented rice wine aroma, with mature tropical fruit flavors, berry sweetness and acidity, nutty and creamy notes, caramel aftertaste, and a subtle floral finish.

FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Bahia Coffee Bean Brewing Method

Brewing equipment: Hario V60
Water temperature: 90°C
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: Medium-fine grind

Brewing method: Poured in stages. Use 30g of water for bloom for 30 seconds. With small circular pours, continue pouring to 125g, then segment. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop pouring. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper (timing starts from bloom). Extraction time: 1.56 seconds.

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