The Difference Between Costa Rican Red Honey, Yellow Honey, and Black Honey Coffee Processing Methods | Costa Rican Coffee Bean Prices

Costa Rican Coffee Bean Honey Process

The honey process, known as Honey Process or Miel Process, produces what's called Honey Coffee. Coffee plantations in Costa Rica, Panama, and Guatemala all employ this processing method. The so-called honey process refers to the production process of drying raw beans with their mucilage intact. After removing the outer pulp from coffee beans, there remains a layer of viscous, gelatinous substance. Traditional washed processing would use clean water to wash it away, but due to water resource limitations in some high-altitude growing areas, this direct drying method was developed.

Alongside the two traditional processing methods of washed and natural, the honey process stands out as a unique approach among coffee processing methods. The taste difference between honey and washed processing: honey process offers higher sweetness, greater sugar content, and relatively more body (when compared at the same roast level).

The honey process allows coffee to retain the cleanliness of washed processing. Although the brightness of the coffee decreases somewhat, it increases sweetness and caramel flavors. According to the degree of honey processing, honey processed coffees are divided into yellow honey, red honey, and black honey.

Types of Honey Processing

Based on information summarized from the green coffee company Nordic Approach operated by Tim Wendelboe, Seattle Coffee from the United States, and Origin Coffee:

Yellow Honey: About 40% of mucilage is removed; drying requires the most direct heat absorption, receiving maximum sunlight exposure, taking approximately 8 days to reach stable moisture content.

Red Honey: About 25% of mucilage is removed; compared to yellow honey, drying time is longer, with reduced direct sun exposure time, sometimes using shade nets, lasting approximately 12 days.

Black Honey: Retains nearly 80% of mucilage; drying takes the longest time, lasting at least 2 weeks, using coverings to avoid excessive sunlight that would prevent too-rapid drying, allowing for more thorough sugar conversion.

Benefits and Characteristics of Honey Processing

The advantage of honey processing lies in its ability to best preserve the original sweet flavor of ripe coffee cherries, giving coffee subtle brown sugar flavors and stone fruit sweetness, while berry flavors support red wine-like aromatic notes, making it considered a very elegant product.

The biggest difference between honey processing and Brazilian semi-washed processing is that the former uses no water whatsoever, because flawless red cherries must be selected to ensure sweet mucilage. The mucilage removal machines for honey processing require higher precision and must accurately control the thickness of mucilage removal, similar to a coffee grinder.

Basically, the production process of [red honey] is much more difficult than [yellow honey], but its flavor profile has more depth. At first taste, it has a slight wild character, but instantly transforms into rich fruity sweetness, reminiscent of the refined fermented flavors of famous Yirgacheffe natural coffees Biloya and Aricha, which is stunning.

The main difference between [white honey] and [yellow honey] processing is the "distinction in drying thickness." Drying thickness determines drying speed and uniformity, which in turn affects the coffee's sweetness and degree of fermentation.

Regarding the topic of "Costa Rican coffee bean honey processing lacking clear flavor characteristics and blindly pursuing fermented characteristics," cupping tests found that white honey and yellow honey coffees have none of the traditional fermentation and soy sauce flavors of honey processing. With ample sweetness, they actually taste more like excellent washed coffees (yes, I'm a washed coffee advocate). This type of honey processing brings red berry-like acidity and a clean, refreshing body.

Coffee beans produced in Costa Rica's high-altitude regions are world-renowned—rich, mild in flavor, but extremely acidic. The coffee beans here are carefully processed, which is why they achieve high quality. Costa Rica is located south of the capital San José in the Tarrazú region, making it one of the country's important coffee growing areas.

The history of coffee cultivation is long, but in the past 10+ years, the more innovative "dry" processing method has become a trend. Collectively known as "honey processing," this new method is a processing approach that sits between natural and washed methods. It allows coffee to retain the cleanliness of washed processing while significantly increasing the coffee's sweetness and caramel flavor because it's dried together with the pulp mucilage.

Failed Honey Processing

What does failed honey processed coffee taste like?

Failed honey processed coffee has a strong defective natural flavor, similar to rough natural coffees with onion, durian, fermented tofu flavors, and more severe cases may even show alcoholic medicinal tastes. Normal honey processed coffee has gentle acidity. If the initial sip is puckeringly sour, it's not a quality product.

Honey processing primarily depends on freshness. If the production period exceeds 10 months, the captivating fruity sweetness will be lost.

Why Natural Processing Doesn't Achieve Same Sweetness

Why doesn't natural processing, which retains 100% fruit pulp, achieve the same level of sweetness?

Natural processing still retains the fruit skin, and some microbial fermentation processes aren't as thorough, with sugars possibly remaining in the dried fruit pulp. Of course, each processing method has its own characteristics, and each year's climate also affects coffee flavor. Indeed, if you want to understand the flavor differences between different processing methods more deeply, direct tasting is the most intuitive approach. (Gu Zongwei)

Flavor Differences Between Honey Processing Types

What are the flavor differences between yellow, red, and black honey processing in Costa Rican coffee beans?

Simply put: processing methods that retain more mucilage result in coffee with richer final flavors and higher sweetness. Here are flavor comparisons of several honey processed coffees from our coffee shop:

Fire Phoenix Estate Red Honey Flavor: Dried fruit, vanilla, honey, with a thick and delicate texture, excellent sweetness, gentle fruit acidity, round and full-bodied, long-lasting aftertaste with plum, raspberry, chestnut notes and strong cane sugar sweetness, with the fresh aroma of apple peel emerging.

Yelsa Processing Plant Yellow Honey Flavor: Famous for excellent natural geographical conditions and superior regional planting management techniques, nearly perfect classic flavor with lively citrus notes in acidity, blackberry fruit aromas, thick acidity and body, melon sweetness with smooth mouthfeel, stone fruit/subtle floral notes, and a significant coffee flower aftertaste—a coffee full of Latin countryside charm.

Lami Estate Black Honey Processing: With the gentle fruit acidity, smooth mouthfeel, and sweet, high-quality berry flavors of honey processing, their most obvious difference is that from yellow to red to black, each becomes progressively sweeter, plus richer fruit notes. The greatest characteristic is its astonishing sweetness, with preserved plum, honey, and brown sugar aftertaste.

Simple Summary:

Sweetness: Black Honey > Red Honey > Yellow Honey > White Honey

Cleanliness: White Honey > Yellow Honey > Red Honey > Black Honey

Balance: Red Honey/Yellow Honey > Black Honey/White Honey

Honey Process Brewing

Our so-called brewing techniques are not for adjusting flavor, because flavor is determined by coffee bean origin, processing method, and roast method. Techniques are for adjusting the speed at which water passes through coffee grounds and the ratio, thereby regulating how much flavor is released. The quality of flavor necessarily depends on the following points:

1. The speed at which water passes through coffee grounds (choice of equipment)
2. Water temperature
3. The coarseness and condition of the grounds
4. The depth of roast
5. The duration of bloom time

Usually pour-over extraction, single serving, 15g of grounds, with coarseness and water temperature slightly adjusted according to different roasts:

1. Yellow Honey (medium roast): Fuji Smart G burr grinder setting 3.5, water temperature 90-91°C, water-to-coffee ratio 1:14
2. Red Honey (medium roast): Fuji Smart G burr grinder setting 4, water temperature 89-90°C, water-to-coffee ratio 1:15
3. Black Honey (medium-light roast): Fuji Smart G burr grinder setting 3.5, water temperature 90-91°C, water-to-coffee ratio 1:14

Costa Rican Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

Costa Rican coffee beans roasted by FrontStreet Coffee offer excellent guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high value-for-money, with a 227-gram bag priced at only 95 yuan. Calculating at 15g per cup, one bag can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to cafés selling cups for dozens of yuan each, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473