America's Specialty Costa Rica Coffee: Regional Introduction and Pour-Over Flavor Profile

Costa Rican coffee is renowned for its sweet profile, with honey processing being the most famous method. The common three processing methods—washed, natural, and honey process—as well as anaerobic and raisin honey processing methods—all have their coffee beans available here. Our beloved Musician Series coffee features a special processing method—raisin honey processing. Of course, while FrontStreet Coffee also mentions that washed processing is the method that best reflects local terroir coffee flavors, specially processed coffees offer another dimension of flavor!

Costa Rica: Premier Coffee Region

Costa Rica, located in the Central American isthmus, is one of Latin America's most renowned coffee-producing regions. Coffee beans grown at high altitudes are world-famous for being rich, mild in flavor yet extremely acidic. All coffee beans here undergo meticulous processing, which is why they achieve such high quality. Costa Rica is located south of the capital San José in the Tarrazú region, making it one of the country's most valued coffee-growing areas.

Costa Rican Coffee Regions

Costa Rica was the first country in Central America to introduce and cultivate coffee, boasting a long history with a complete system from production to sales. Located in the Central American isthmus at altitudes of 1200-1600 meters, particularly in the Central Plateau, the coffee-growing areas feature volcanic terrain with fertile volcanic ash, mild and suitable temperatures, and stable, abundant rainfall—making coffee one of the primary agricultural products. The harvest season runs from November to March, with three sub-regions: San José, Heredia, and Alajuela. The region contains three high-altitude volcanoes: Irazú, Barva, and Poás, which provide rich nutrients to surrounding coffee plants. The superior microclimate combined with the fertile soil of Poás and Barva volcanoes gives beans from this region exceptional characteristics such as chocolate and cocoa flavors, bright fruit acidity, and elegant aromas.

Costa Rica has eight main coffee-growing regions: Western Valley (Valley Central Occidental), Central Valley (Valley Central), Tarrazú, Tres Ríos, Orosi, Brunca, and Turrialba. Among these, most of Costa Rica's specialty coffee comes from the Tarrazú region.

Tarrazú is located south of the country's capital San José, at altitudes of 1,200-1,700 meters, with distinct dry and rainy seasons. The perfect soil composition and terrain, coupled with a harvest season from December to March, produce high acidity with hard, full-bodied beans and rich aromas. This world-renowned region is characterized by high-altitude growing conditions that create an incomparably perfect cup profile.

Tarrazú is Costa Rica's most important and highest-quality specialty coffee region. Besides micro-lots, Tarrazú also produces large quantities of high-quality bulk coffee. Located in the picturesque Central Valley of Costa Rica, the region uses no pesticides or artificial fertilizers during cultivation. All these factors make this area a truly perfect growing region for Arabica coffee. The name "Tarrazú" originates from the ancient Huetar indigenous people who once settled here.

Meanwhile, Tarrazú is extremely prestigious in the specialty coffee world and is one of the world's major coffee-producing regions. In the 2014 Cup of Excellence competition, 17 out of 23 winning coffees came from the Tarrazú region. This demonstrates the exceptional quality of Tarrazú's coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican Mirazu coffee, as well as the Musician Series Mozart and Bach coffees, all come from the Tarrazú region. Furthermore, FrontStreet Coffee has selected Tarrazú coffee as one of its house blend options.

Mirazu Estate

Esteban Sanches, the owner of Mirazu Estate, was originally a staff member at La Candelilla Estate, where he gained extensive knowledge of coffee machinery and green coffee post-processing methods. Later, due to his unique perspectives on coffee, he left La Candelilla to establish his own coffee estate, naming it Mirazu. In the local language, Mirazu means "overlooking Tarrazú." Esteban Sanches believes that coffee quality begins at the coffee tree.

The owner of Mirazu Estate is an agricultural doctor highly skilled in processing and post-processing methods who later fulfilled his dream by establishing his own processing facility and estate. The farm grows many different varieties. Mirazu natural Geisha has delicate floral aromas and light cooked fruit notes. Brown sugar and stone fruit tones bring out abundant sweetness.

This Costa Rican Mirazu coffee is a Geisha blend. This Geisha blend contains 50% Geisha coffee beans and 50% ET47, SL28, and Maico.

Musician Series: Mozart and Bach Coffee

Canet Estate

Canet Estate is located in the highest altitude area of the Tarrazú region and is Costa Rica's most densely cultivated fruit-growing area. Canet Estate primarily grows passion fruit, with coffee production being quite limited—only grown in specific areas with special care. All coffee cherries are hand-picked, harvesting only mature red cherries. However, after harvesting and before processing, they undergo an additional screening step to remove under-ripe or over-ripe beans.

The origin of Canet Estate's Musician Series comes from the owner's love for classical music, which is why all coffee beans produced by this estate are named after musicians.

Canet Estate primarily grows Caturra and Catuai varieties, using raisin honey and washed processing methods to produce world-renowned Musician Series coffee beans named after "Beethoven," "Bach," "Chopin," and "Mozart." Grown at altitudes between 1700-1950 meters, these are all SHB (Strictly Hard Bean) grade high-altitude beans with sweet flavors, rich fruit aromas, wine-like notes, and strong tea-like qualities.

Main Costa Rican Coffee Varieties

The main coffee varieties grown in Costa Rica, like other Latin American countries, are primarily Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai. However, Costa Rica also locally produces Villasarchi and Villalobos varieties. FrontStreet Coffee will now introduce the characteristics of these coffee varieties.

Bourbon

Bourbon is a variant of early Typica that was introduced to Yemen, with the bean shape changing from slender and pointed to round. In 1715, after the French transported Yemen Mocha's round beans to Bourbon Island off the east coast of Africa (renamed Réunion Island after the French Revolution), it was named Bourbon. Bourbon round beans spread to Brazil and Central and South America in 1727. In 1732, when the British transported Yemen Mocha to St. Helena Island (where Napoleon was later imprisoned), these were also Bourbon round beans. Bourbon is the consistent champion in American specialty coffee cupping competitions.

Today, most Brazilian coffee beans are Bourbon varieties. FrontStreet Coffee's house blend Brazilian coffee and single-origin Brazilian Queen Estate coffee are both Bourbon varieties.

Caturra

Caturra is a natural variant of the Arabica Bourbon variety, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is shorter and smaller than Bourbon. Although it inherits Bourbon's lineage, it has relatively weak disease resistance but higher yields than Bourbon. Despite being discovered in Brazil, Caturra is not suitable for growth in Brazil and therefore was not widely cultivated there. Instead, it became popular in Central and South American regions, with large-scale cultivation in countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.

Catuai

Catuai is a hybrid of Mundo Novo and Caturra—truly a second-generation hybrid. It inherits Caturra's advantage of low plant height while compensating for Caturra's weak fruit that easily falls in strong winds. The fruit sets firmly and doesn't drop easily in strong winds. The biggest drawback is that its overall flavor is slightly more monotonous than Caturra. Catuai also has red and yellow fruit varieties, with red fruit generally having better flavor than yellow fruit.

Villasarchi

Villasarchi is a Bourbon variant. This Bourbon green-topped dwarf natural mutant was discovered in Costa Rica in 1950 and subsequently underwent pedigree selection (selecting individual plants through continuous 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 spice notes like cinnamon.

Villalobos

Villalobos originated in Costa Rica and is a Typica variant. Like Typica, it has a 60-degree angle between branches and trunk, with bronze-colored leaves. This variety grows particularly well at high altitudes and has strong wind resistance. It can grow in poor soil but performs better under shade trees. The most prominent characteristic in its flavor is excellent sweetness and pleasant acidity.

Costa Rican Coffee Bean Processing Methods

In 1830, Costa Rica began introducing washed processing methods. Gradually, washed coffee quality was effectively improved. To enhance coffee quality and increase sales, Costa Rican coffee farmers began experimenting with new processing methods. During this innovation process, farmers discovered a processing method between natural and washed that significantly reduced coffee processing time. This is how honey processing was born.

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

Due to water and climate limitations, honey processing has become increasingly popular throughout Costa Rica. This "sweet as honey" processing method actually improves upon Brazil's pulped natural method to enhance sweetness. The key to this processing method is to preserve as much of the pectin layer adhering to the parchment coffee as possible. This is a precise processing method: the color of the coffee beans depends on the level of mucilage left on the beans before drying. The mucilage content is the determining factor for coffee sweetness; traditionally, the more mucilage or "honey" left on, the greater the sweetness and depth.

Screened coffee cherries are placed in a pulping machine to remove skin and pulp while preserving the mucilage. They are then placed in shaded, ventilated areas for natural air-drying, which typically takes 12-14 days. Finally, the moisture content and fermentation level of the green beans are checked. Preserving the mucilage makes honey-processed coffee beans sweet as honey, which is why Costa Rican coffee has numerous loyal fans. The mucilage content and fermentation time also change the coffee's appearance and flavor, so Costa Ricans further classify honey-processed coffee into black honey, gold honey, red honey, yellow honey, and white honey.

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

FrontStreet Coffee's Bach and Mozart coffee beans use raisin honey processing—a special honey processing technique that begins by drying the coffee cherries with skin and pulp intact until they reach a raisin-like state, then removing the skin and pulp before further drying to completion. Coffee beans processed this way have rich flavors of raisins, dark berries, and fermented fruit wine.

The biggest difference between Bach and Mozart is the degree of fermentation. Bach coffee beans have deeper fermentation, thus possessing some fermented wine aromas and air-dried beef flavors. Mozart coffee beans have slightly lighter fermentation, featuring dark fruit flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican Brewing Parameters:

The specific brewing parameters FrontStreet Coffee uses are: V60 dripper, water temperature 91°C, water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, coffee dose 15g, medium-fine grind (80% retention rate on China #20 standard sieve).

FrontStreet Coffee's segmented extraction technique: First, use 30g of water to thoroughly wet the coffee grounds into a "hamburger" shape for a 30-second bloom. In the second pour, at 1'00" on the timer, inject water to 125g, then wait until the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed before the third pour. In the third pour, at 1'40" on the timer, inject water to 225g, waiting for the coffee liquid to completely finish dripping, with a total extraction time of 1'59". The total brewing time is 2'00". After extraction is complete, gently swirl the coffee to ensure thorough mixing before tasting.

FrontStreet Coffee Bach flavor characteristics: Berries, strawberry, citrus, cream, cocoa, caramel, tropical fruits.

FrontStreet Coffee Mozart flavor characteristics: Berries, fermented aromas, with notes of raisin and sweet orange on entry. As temperature changes, fermented wine and osmanthus aromas become more apparent.

FrontStreet Coffee Mirazu flavor characteristics: Rich rose floral notes, strawberry, raisin, almond.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Suggestions:

Regardless of what coffee you're brewing, coffee bean freshness is very important. FrontStreet Coffee has always believed that coffee bean freshness greatly affects coffee flavor. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee ships all coffee beans within 5 days of roasting. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "Freshly Roasted Good Coffee," ensuring every customer receives the freshest coffee possible. The coffee resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive their coffee, it's at peak flavor.

For friends who need ground coffee, FrontStreet Coffee offers a gentle reminder: once coffee beans are ground in advance, there's no need for further resting, because the pressure from carbon dioxide buildup in the packaging during transport also helps round out the coffee flavor. Therefore, you can brew a cup immediately upon receiving ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly, as coffee powder oxidizes quickly when exposed to air, meaning the flavor dissipates more rapidly, and the coffee won't taste as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends purchasing whole beans and grinding fresh for each brew to better enjoy the coffee's flavor.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

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