Costa Rica Pour-Over Single Origin Coffee Beans: Flavor Characteristics, Tasting Notes, and Regional Introduction

As one of Latin America's most renowned coffee-producing regions, Costa Rica boasts highly sophisticated coffee processing techniques. From the common three main processing methods—washed, natural, and honey processing—to anaerobic and raisin honey processing, Costa Rican coffee beans offer everything a coffee enthusiast could desire. Many coffee lovers purchase their favorite Costa Rican beans to brew at home, yet often find the result differs from what they experience in coffee shops. Is it due to poor bean quality? Or perhaps incorrect brewing methods? In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will teach you how to perform pour-over coffee brewing and explore the flavor characteristics of FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican coffee beans.

Costa Rican Coffee Growing Conditions

Everyone knows that coffee beans are agricultural products, meaning their flavors are influenced by geographical environment, soil, and climate. Additionally, coffee varieties and processing methods also affect the final flavor profile. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce how Costa Rican coffee beans develop their characteristic flavors based on these three key factors.

According to FrontStreet Coffee's research, Costa Rica was the first country in Central America to receive coffee cultivation and has a long history. Its volcanic soil is exceptionally fertile with excellent drainage, particularly in the Central Plateau region at elevations of 1,200-1,600 meters. The harvest season runs from November to March, with three main sub-regions: San José, Heredia, and Alajuela. The region features three high-altitude volcanoes—Irazú, Barva, and Poás—that provide rich nutrients to surrounding coffee plants. The superior microclimate combined with two volcanic soil types gives beans from this region exceptional characteristics, such as chocolate and cocoa flavors, bright fruit acidity, and elegant aromas.

Additionally, Costa Rica has eight main coffee-producing regions: Western Valley (Valley Central Occidental), Central Valley (Valley Central), Tarrazú, Tres Ríos, Orosi, Brunca, and Turrialba. Most of Costa Rica's specialty coffee comes from the Tarrazú region, which is why FrontStreet Coffee has selected coffee beans from this region as Costa Rican daily drinkers for everyone to experience and understand Costa Rican coffee flavors.

So what makes the Tarrazú coffee region so special? According to FrontStreet Coffee's findings, Tarrazú is located south of the country's capital, San José, at elevations of 1,200-1,700 meters, with harvest season from December to March. The region is known for its high acidity, hard and full-bodied beans, and rich aromas. As a world-renowned region, its main characteristic is the unparalleled perfect mouthpiece created by high-altitude growing conditions.

Meanwhile, Tarrazú is extremely famous in the specialty coffee world and is one of the world's major coffee-producing regions. According to FrontStreet Coffee's research, in the 2014 Cup of Excellence competition, 17 out of 23 winning beans came from the Tarrazú region. This clearly demonstrates the exceptional quality of Tarrazú region coffee beans.

This is of course related to its soil and topography. Tarrazú is located in the fertile volcanic region of Central America, with humid climate and fertile volcanic rock soil. Abundant rainfall throughout the year, high elevation, and dense natural forest shade provide an ideal growing environment for coffee. Furthermore, no pesticides or artificial fertilizers are used during cultivation. This shows the importance Costa Rican coffee farmers place on cultivation quality, explaining why Costa Rica produces high-quality coffee beans.

Main Costa Rican Coffee Varieties

The main coffee varieties grown in Costa Rica are similar to other Latin American countries, primarily cultivating Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai. However, Costa Rica also produces local varieties such as Villasarchi and Villalobos. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce the characteristics of these coffee varieties.

Bourbon

Bourbon is a variant of early Typica that was transplanted to Yemen, changing the bean shape from pointed and slender to round. In 1715, after France transplanted the round Yemen Mocha beans to Bourbon Island on the east coast of Africa (renamed Réunion Island after the French Revolution), it was named Bourbon. The round Bourbon beans spread to Brazil and Central and South America in 1727. In 1732, Britain also transplanted Yemen Mocha to St. Helena Island (where Napoleon was later imprisoned), which were also round Bourbon beans. Bourbon is often a champion in American specialty coffee cupping competitions.

Caturra

Caturra is a natural variant of the Arabica variety Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is not as tall as Bourbon, being more compact. Although it inherited Bourbon lineage, making it relatively disease-resistant, its yield is higher than Bourbon. Despite being discovered in Brazil, Caturra is not suitable for growing there, so it wasn't cultivated on a large scale in Brazil. Instead, it became widely popular in Central and South American countries, with large-scale cultivation in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.

Catuai

Catuai is a hybrid of Mundo Novo and Caturra, essentially a second-generation hybrid. It inherits Caturra's advantage of low plant height while compensating for Caturra's weakness of fragile fruit that easily falls off. The fruit sets firmly and is less likely to drop in strong winds. The biggest regret is that its overall flavor is slightly more monotonous than Caturra. Catuai also comes in red and yellow fruit varieties, with red fruit generally offering better flavor than yellow fruit.

Villasarchi

Villasarchi is a Bourbon variety. This green-topped dwarf natural mutant of Bourbon was discovered in Costa Rica in 1950, followed by pedigree selection (selecting individual plants through consecutive generations). However, this variety was not widely cultivated in Costa Rica. Instead, in 1974, it was introduced to Honduras by the Honduran Coffee Institute (IHCAFE). In terms of aroma, it's a coffee with quite high complexity, suitable for medium-dark roasting. The dry fragrance after grinding carries notes of floral nectar and cherry, mixed with sweet spices like cinnamon.

Costa Rican Coffee Bean Processing Methods

The most widely used processing method in Costa Rican coffee regions is undoubtedly honey processing. So-called honey processing refers to the process of making raw beans by sun-drying them with the mucilage (also called pectin). After removing the outer pulp from coffee beans, there remains a layer of sticky gelatinous substance (pectin). Traditional washed processing would use clean water to wash it away, but due to water resource limitations in some high-altitude regions, this direct sun-drying method was developed.

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

To summarize simply:

Sweetness: Black honey > Red honey > Yellow honey

Cleanliness: Yellow honey > Red honey > Black honey

Balance: Red honey = Yellow honey > Black honey

The above is FrontStreet Coffee's summary of the three major factors that shape Costa Rican coffee bean flavor characteristics. We hope this helps coffee enthusiasts understand how Costa Rican coffee bean flavors are formed. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will provide a pour-over tutorial using the commonly available honey-processed coffee beans for coffee enthusiasts.

FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rica Canet Musician Series - Baha Coffee

Country: Costa Rica

Region: Tarrazú

Elevation: 1,950m

Processing: Raisin Honey Processing

Grade: Strictly Hard Bean (SHB)

Variety: H1

FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rica Canet Musician Series - Mozart Coffee

Country: Costa Rica

Region: Tarrazú

Elevation: 1,800m

Processing: Raisin Honey Processing

Grade: SHB

Variety: H1

FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rican Coffee Bean Brewing Recommendations

Dripper: Hario V60 #01

Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Temperature: 90°C

Grind: Medium-fine (80% pass-through on China standard #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Method: Segmented Extraction

First, use 30g of water to thoroughly wet the coffee grounds into a "hamburger" shape and bloom for 30 seconds, then proceed to the second stage of brewing. FrontStreet Coffee uses a steady medium-fine water stream in circular motions for the second stage, injecting water to 125g at 55 seconds on the timer, then stopping to wait for the water level to drop to 2/3 of the coffee bed before injecting the third stage. FrontStreet Coffee continues with a steady approach until 1 minute 55 seconds.

FrontStreet Coffee Baha Coffee Bean Brewing Flavor:

At high temperature: grape-like sweet and sour with wine-like fermentation notes. As it cools gradually: red berry juice-like sensation with rose aromatics. The aftertaste is caramel-like sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee Mozart Coffee Bean Brewing Flavor:

Berry notes, fermented aromatics, with raisin and sweet orange on entry. Fermented wine fragrance and osmanthus aroma become more apparent with temperature changes.

The above is FrontStreet Coffee's sharing of pour-over Costa Rican coffee bean brewing parameters. We hope this helps all coffee enthusiasts brew the correct coffee flavors in future pour-over processes.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473