Costa Rican Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations How Much Does a Cup of Costa Rican Black Honey Process Coffee Cost

Costa Rica Sumava de Lourdes Black Honey

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Costa Rica coffee beans. Sumava Estate. Caturra. Black honey

01 | Introduction to the Growing Region

Coffee cultivation in Costa Rica first began in 1779 with coffee introduced from Cuba, with the first coffee exports occurring in 1820. Currently, there are approximately 32,000 coffee farmers in Costa Rica, with an average plantation area of less than one hectare (10,000㎡) per farmer. Costa Rica has a population of 4.1 million (2006), with coffee cultivation covering 82,500 hectares. Annual production reaches 1.7 million bags (60kg each), with domestic annual consumption of 380,000 bags. The average annual consumption per person is 5.5kg, higher than Japan (4kg consumption), while Taiwan's current average consumption is only slightly above 1kg.

Costa Rica was the first country in Central America to introduce coffee cultivation, with a long history and a complete system from production to sales. Located in the Central American isthmus, the country is dotted with volcanoes and enjoys natural advantages of sunshine and land. The climate is moderated by Pacific and Atlantic ocean currents and sea breezes, producing coffee with unique characteristics of local microclimate and terroir. In terms of quality and quantity, Costa Rican coffee has consistently received global recognition and is ranked as one of the world's high-quality coffees. Many towering volcanoes reaching 2,000 meters in altitude allow coffee cherries to grow slowly in fertile volcanic ash soil and high-altitude cool environments, cultivating coffee beans with complete and rich flavors.

Costa Rica began coffee cultivation two hundred years ago, with the earliest planting sites located on the slopes of Poas and Barva volcanoes, now known as the Central Valley region. After years of development, Costa Rica currently has eight major growing regions: Guanacastes, West Valley, Central Valley, Turrialba, Orosi, Tres Rios, Tarrazu, and Brunca.

According to ICO statistics, Costa Rica can produce approximately 1.6 million bags of Arabica coffee annually. Although production is lower than Central American countries like Guatemala and Honduras, the quality and price are far superior to theirs.

Costa Rica has two seasons: the dry season from December to April, which is the coffee harvest time, and the rainy season from May to November. In recent years, micro-mills have been established one after another, requiring only 5% of the water consumption of traditional washed processing plants, and not requiring large water tanks and drying fields, resulting in relatively small investment needs. "Honey processed coffee" with low acidity, increased complexity, and rich sweet aroma has become the competitive target in the coffee industry in recent years; among them, outstanding performers have shined in major competitions in recent years, greatly enhancing the international reputation of various estates.

Sumava Estate Coffee Beans from Costa Rica

Costa Rica has seven coffee growing regions, with Tarrazu, Central Valley, and West Valley being the three most famous and highest quality regions. Sumava Estate (Finca Sumava de Lourdes) is located in Costa Rica's West Valley region, near Naranjo city, at an altitude of 1,700 meters. The planted varieties include 10 hectares of Villasarchi and Caturra, 2 hectares of SL28, 1 hectare of Geisha, and other varieties. The estate owner Francisco Mena and estate manager Jose Ordonez lead a full-time work team. In addition to growing diverse coffee varieties, the estate retains a large area of land as a forest reserve, providing natural habitat for wildlife, making it a quite high-quality coffee estate in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica's Sumava Estate is a very young estate. Francisco Mena, originally engaged in coffee trading business, purchased this land and retained most of the original forest, developing only a small part as a coffee cultivation area to maintain the estate's natural ecological balance.

The altitude of Sumava Estate is approximately between 1,670-1,790 meters. Located in another famous Costa Rican region - West Valley, with high temperature differences and fertile soil, it is very suitable for coffee cultivation.

Estate owner Francisco Mena introduced high-quality varieties that entered the top 13 in the Cup of Excellence - the natural mutation of Bourbon, Villasarchi. This is a rare variety cultivated through hybridization of Red Bourbon trees. It is resistant to strong winds, prefers high-altitude environments, and has excellent acidity with various fruit notes. It has high sweetness, bright and delicate citrus acidity with deeper raisin and nutty aromas, with quite high complexity and excellent balance.

Most of the estate is left as forest to maintain the natural environment. Considerable thought has been put into estate management; for broken wood, rotten wood, and weeds, traditional burning methods are not used. Instead, wood is shredded into fragments and mixed with organic fertilizer for use on the farm. From the El Chayote Reserve in West Valley, in the fertile volcanic soil of Poás, facing Pacific convection currents and humidity, plus considerable temperature differences between morning and evening and excellent microclimate, this small area within a 1-kilometer radius has produced four champion estates! Truly a place of outstanding natural and human excellence!

Coffee Bean Processing Method - Honey Processing

Honey processing, called Honey Process or Miel Process, produces Honey Coffee. Coffee estates in Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, and other regions have adopted this processing method. The so-called honey processing refers to the process of making green beans by sun-drying with the mucilage intact.

Estate owner Mena uses a unique sweet juice honey processing method, which he calls: sweet sugar process! The juice produced during coffee cherry processing is used to soak the parchment beans during processing. Because the cherry juice contains high sweetness and unique enzymes, the processed parchment beans contain richer flavors and very complex positive notes!

The typical harvest season is from January to April each year. Since the estate temperature is only 10-20°C, there are often freshly ripe coffee cherries waiting to be picked in April! Simply put: processing methods that retain more pectin result in coffee with richer final flavors and higher sweetness. Here is a comparison of several honey processed flavors:

The pectin mucilage part is the highest sugar content part of the coffee fruit and an important component of coffee processing fermentation. It can be said that this part determines 80% of the nutrient supply during the processing. Yellow honey retains 60% of the pectin, red honey retains 75% of the pectin, and black honey removes almost no pectin.

Green Bean Analysis

Green Bean Information:

Region: West Valley

Estate: Finca Sumava de Lourdes

Variety: Caturra

Altitude: 1,700 meters

Processing: Black honey processing

Soil: Volcanic geology

Harvest: December to March of the following year

Flavor Description: Brown sugar, floral notes, citrus, pomelo, sweet spices, sweet mouthfeel

Caturra, varietal Caturra, Coffea arabica var. caturra.

First discovered in 1937 in São Paulo state, Brazil, it is a natural mutation of Bourbon. Currently widely cultivated in Central and South American regions such as Brazil and Colombia.

Roasting Analysis

Yang's 800N, 550g green beans input, specific operation:

Heat the roaster to 200°C, air damper at 3. After 1 minute of steaming, adjust heat to 160°C, keep air damper unchanged. At 160°C, adjust heat once to 135°C. Roast to 5'40", temperature 154.9°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete, air damper unchanged;

At the 9th minute, ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast smell clearly turns to coffee aroma, can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. First crack begins at 9'21", adjust heat to 80°C, open air damper fully to 5 (adjust heat must be very careful, not too small to stop cracking sounds). At 50°C, unload at 193.4°C.

Cupping Notes

Brewing Analysis

Hand Brew Reference

Use Key's filter cup, 16g of coffee to 32g of water, steam for 30 seconds, extract with 89-90°C water, ratio 1:15, medium-fine grind with Fuji 3.5. Second pour to 110ml, stop water, wait for water level to drop then slowly pour water again, maintaining even speed, water level should not be too high. Third pour to 233ml and stop. Extraction time 2:15 seconds ~ rich sun-dried sweetness. Everyone can adjust slightly according to their own taste preferences.

Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Costa Rican coffee beans have full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, the cost-performance is extremely high, with a 227-gram package priced at only 95 yuan. Calculated at 15g of coffee powder per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to coffee shops 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