How to Brew Costa Rica Musician Series Beethoven Coffee Beans for Better Taste

Coffee is a craft best learned by tasting widely and comparing notes with other drinkers.

The Costa Rica Musician Series is a coffee line that went viral. FrontStreet Coffee brought the series in precisely because it departs from traditional honey processing, and Beethoven is the only washed coffee in the series, which sets it apart at once. The Yellow Catuai variety, taken through the washed method, gives a clean cup with vibrant fruit aroma in the brew. It delivers berry acidity, tea-like notes, and a sweet aftertaste of honey and cantaloupe - genuinely delicious.

Finca Canet is a small 5-hectare estate in the town of San Marcos in the Tarrazu region, owned by the Robles brothers - Leo, Elian, and Melvin. The three have farmed and produced together for over 10 years and also share a small wet processing plant (Beneficio).

They launched the Musician Series with three different coffees, each using a different green-bean technique to highlight a distinct character. This micro-lot from Finca Canet, Beethoven, grows at an extremely high altitude of 1,900 meters. Its flavor comes from an exclusive refined washed process that makes the most of its high-altitude character. The variety is Yellow Catuai, a hybrid of Mundo Novo and Caturra first cultivated in 1949 by Brazil's Instituto Agronomico de Campinas.

Both Yellow Catuai and Red Catuai resist disease well, which makes them suited to high, windy sites. Both also offer a delicate, clean acidity. With machine adjustments they can produce red honey and yellow honey processed coffee, depending on the degree of honey processing. Since Finca Canet sits in Costa Rica's highest region, Tarrazu - also the country's most intensive fruit-growing area - the estate grows mainly passion fruit, and coffee is something of a rarity. Coffee is planted only in a specific area and receives special care, with only fully ripe red cherries harvested.

Beethoven differs from the other Musician Series coffees in its processing. It is washed. After harvest it passes a screening step where underripe or overripe beans are sorted out again. The pulp is then removed, and the mucilage is washed off in a centrifugal washer to prevent fermentation. After that it is rinsed in clean water and laid on shaded high racks to dry for 12-14 days, turned constantly for evenness. The washed method gives a cleaner, brighter cup.

Costa Rica - FrontStreet Coffee's Musician Series: Beethoven

Region: Costa Rica, Tarrazu
Estate: Finca Canet
Altitude: 1,900m
Variety: Yellow Catuai
Processing Method: Washed

FrontStreet Coffee's Beethoven Roasting Curve

FrontStreet Coffee's Beethoven Brewing Tutorial

Coffee Dose: 15g
Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: Fine sugar
Water Temperature: 90°C
Dripper: Kalita #01 Ceramic Dripper

1. Bloom with 25g of water for 30 seconds, letting the bed absorb water fully and release CO2;

2. Second pour to 120g; pour from a moderate height with a small flow, using gentle, slow circles to adopt an immersion-style brew that lets the grounds release the compounds you want while minimizing agitation of the bed;

3. Third pour to 225g; when the water level has dropped by one-third, make the third pour to reach 225g. At this point the water level falls more slowly, a sign that fine particles have begun to settle at the bottom of the dripper. Slightly increase the pour rate and the speed of your circles to stir up those fines and avoid over-extraction and bitterness. Total extraction time: 1 minute 56 seconds.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Beethoven is a washed, fruit-forward coffee, and if you brew it on a flat-bed dripper like the Kalita, FrontStreet Coffee's Cerrado Red Bourbon makes a good contrast to keep on the shelf. From Brazil's Cerrado region - the area best known for quality Brazilian coffee - it is a red Bourbon, pulped natural, and roasted medium, which brings out cream peanut, toasted bread, caramel, and hazelnut. It is round and low in acidity with a light bitterness, and it brews cleanly as pour-over, moka pot, espresso SOE, siphon, or French press.

If you would rather stay with a bright, sweet washed profile, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen's Estate is worth trying. It comes from Mogiana, close to South Minas, where fertile red volcanic soil builds a full aroma, and its rare Yellow Bourbon keeps the fruit clean. The cup shows the sugarcane sweetness unique to the region along with fruit and chocolate. Use the same moderate grind and ratio you would use for a Kalita brew, and it will reward you.

And if you would rather drink your coffee with milk, FrontStreet Coffee's espresso blends lean on Brazilian beans for chocolate and cream aromas and a soft, balanced sweet-bitter structure. The Classic Blend and the Specialty Blend are the two most common places to start.