Costa Rica Canet Estate Coffee Bean Story - Musician Mozart Honey Process Coffee Characteristics

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FrontStreet Coffee has tasted numerous specialty coffees, and if one had to choose a country whose coffee flavor represents sweetness, Costa Rica honey-processed coffee beans would certainly be mentioned. Costa Rican coffee most commonly uses honey processing, but when it comes to this word "honey," many people unfamiliar with coffee bean processing methods mistakenly think that honey is added during processing. This is not the case - the word "honey" refers to the mucilage of the coffee cherry, and honey processing is merely a theoretical collective term.

Costa Rican Coffee History

In 1729, coffee was introduced to Costa Rica from Cuba, making Costa Rica the first country in Central America to cultivate coffee and the first to grow it for commercial purposes. After Costa Rica gained independence from Spain in 1821, the local government began to strongly support the coffee industry with a series of policies. At that time, it was over a hundred years since coffee was introduced to Costa Rica, but coffee trees had already been planted for about 70,000, showing its rapid development. In 1825, the Costa Rican government implemented tax exemption policies. In 1832, the local government issued a law: "those who cultivate coffee shall own their land," meaning that 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. Coffee farmers hold a very high status in Costa Rica. In 1897, citizens of the capital San José witnessed the completion of the National Theater donated by coffee tycoons. Additionally, Costa Rica has revised laws explicitly stipulating that only Arabica coffee is allowed to be cultivated domestically, while Robusta is prohibited in the country.

Costa Rica's Growing Regions

Costa Rica is located in Central America and is the first country in Central America where coffee was introduced for cultivation, with a long history. The volcanic soil is very fertile and has good drainage, especially in the Central Plateau, where the fertile volcanic ash of the volcanic terrain, mild and suitable temperatures, and stable, abundant rainfall have become essential factors for growing good coffee.

The country has eight main growing regions: Western Valley (Valley Central Occidental), Central Valley (Valley Central), Tarrazu, Tres Rios, Orosi, Brunca, and Turrialba.

Tarrazu Region

The Tarrazu region is located in a volcanic area at an altitude of about 2,000 meters, with fertile volcanic ash soil and a high-altitude cool environment, producing coffee beans with rich flavors, bright, high-quality acidity, and a pure, clean texture. In Tarrazu, the rainy and dry seasons are distinct. The rainy season lasts from May to November, spanning 7 months, which coincides with the growth period of coffee trees. The dry season runs from December to April of the following year, lasting 5 months. The local coffee cherry harvest time is from November to March of the following year, also lasting 5 months, which perfectly aligns with the dry season. This climate with distinct wet and dry seasons has become ideal for cultivation and has achieved coffee cherries with consistent maturity.

Canet Estate

Canet Estate (Finca Canet) is a small 5-hectare estate located in the town of San Marcos in the Tarrazu region, in the highest coffee-growing area of Tarrazu, which is the most intensive fruit-growing area in Costa Rica. It is owned by the Robles brothers - Leo, Elian, and Melvin - who have worked together in cultivation and production for over 10 years and also share a small wet processing plant (Beneficio). They launched the Musician Series product line consisting of four different beans, using different green bean processing techniques to showcase different unique characteristics.

According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, the origin of the Musician Series coffee beans is because the owner of Canet Estate is very passionate about classical music, and names the coffee beans based on the flavors produced by different processing methods, matching which musician each coffee bean feels like. As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, Tarrazu is the highest altitude region in Costa Rica, so Canet Estate produces SHB-grade high-altitude strictly hard beans. Such beans inherently have sweet flavors, with fruit aromas, wine-like notes, and tea-like fragrances.

Costa Rican Honey Processing

The honey processing method is called Honey Process or Miel Process, producing what's known as Honey Coffee. Coffee plantations in countries such as Costa Rica, Panama, and Guatemala all use this processing method, and Costa Rican honey-processed coffee beans are particularly well-known. So-called honey processing refers to the process of making green beans by sun-drying with the mucilage (also called pectin) still attached. After removing the outer pulp of the coffee beans, there remains a viscous gel-like substance (pectin). Traditional washed processing uses clean water to wash it away, 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: higher sweetness than washed, higher sugar content, and relatively higher body.

Costa Rican honey-processed coffee beans retain the cleanliness of washed processing. Although the brightness of the coffee decreases, it increases sweetness and caramel-like mouthfeel. According to different degrees of honey processing, Costa Rican honey-processed coffee beans are divided into yellow honey processing, red honey processing, and black honey processing.

Speaking of this, FrontStreet Coffee would like to strongly recommend the Musician Series coffee beans from Canet Estate in the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica. Mozart's music is delicate, subtle, gorgeous, with a clear style and beautiful melodies. Among the Musician Series coffee beans, there is one that has the sweet and sour taste of delicate red berries with subtle floral notes. The style is both the delicacy of red berries and the gorgeousness of floral aromas, with raisin-like fermentation notes that make this melody beautifully present in the mouth.

[FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Mozart]

Country: Costa Rica

Region: Tarrazu

Estate: Canet Estate

Altitude: 1980m

Variety: H1

Processing Method: Raisin Honey Processing

H1

Seeing the H1 variety on the small label of our FrontStreet Coffee Mozart packaging, some might wonder: what is the H1 variety?

H1's full name is Centroamericano H1, continuing research from Nicaragua's Sebaco laboratory. H1 is a hybrid variety of Rume Sudan and Sarchimor T-5296. Rume Sudan was discovered in the Rume valley of the Boma plateau in Sudan, hence its name.

This coffee has good quality and excellent flavor, but poor disease resistance. However, varieties hybridized with it can well inherit its excellent flavor genes. The genetically stabilized H1 variety has high yield capacity, potential high quality, strong adaptability and resistance to leaf rust, but is easily affected by American leaf spot disease.

Raisin Honey Processing

Raisin honey processing retains 100% pectin and uses zero water processing methods. This increases the difficulty of honey processing methods, 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 these floating beans must be removed. The selected coffee fruits are placed on raised beds to dry for at least three days, then the cherry skin is removed, and the pectin is retained before further drying.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Dripper: V60 #01

Water Temperature: 90-91°C

Dose: 15g

Grind Size: Medium-fine grind (Chinese standard #20 sieve pass rate 80%)

Ratio: 1:15

Three-stage extraction: Use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then continue pouring in a circular motion with small water flow 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, remove the dripper (timing starts from the bloom). Extraction time is 2 minutes.

Flavor description: The wet aroma is osmanthus fragrance and fermented notes. The entry is complex floral and fermented sauce-like aromas, with raisin and dried fruit-like sweetness, along with starfruit and berry acidity, and sugarcane aftertaste.

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