Costa Rican Tarrazú Coffee Bean Varieties and Regional Origin Characteristics | Costa Rican Coffee Price List

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

FrontStreet Coffee's Introduction to Costa Rican Coffee-Growing Regions

Tarrazu in Costa Rica is one of the world's major coffee-producing regions, known for its light, pure flavor and pleasant aroma. Costa Rica's volcanic soil is very fertile and well drained, and the country was the first in Central America to grow coffee and bananas commercially. Coffee and bananas are its main export commodities.

In 1729 coffee was introduced to Costa Rica from Cuba. Today its coffee industry is one of the most well-organized in the world, with yields reaching up to 1,700 kilograms per hectare. Costa Rica has a population of only 3.5 million, yet it has as many as 400 million coffee trees, and coffee exports account for 25% of the country's total export value. Costa Rica also benefits from the Central American Agricultural Research Institute (IAAC) located in Tarrazu, an important international research center.

High-quality Costa Rican coffee beans are called "Strictly Hard Beans," a type of coffee that can grow at altitudes above 1,500 meters. Altitude has always been a challenge for coffee growers. The higher the altitude, the better the beans, not only because higher altitudes increase the beans' acidity and thus enhance flavor, but also because lower nighttime temperatures at higher elevations slow the trees' growth, resulting in more concentrated flavor.

In addition, the abundant rainfall caused by high altitude variations is very beneficial for coffee tree growth. Although growing coffee at higher altitudes has many advantages, the extra transportation costs must be considered, and these can make coffee production unprofitable. Costa Rica's coffee industry has adopted new technology to raise efficiency, including using "electric eyes" to select beans and identify irregularly sized ones.

Tarrazu lies south of the capital, San José, and is one of the country's most valued coffee-growing areas. "La Minita Tarrazu" coffee is a famous local product with limited production of approximately 72,600 kilograms annually. It is grown on land called "La Minita," owned by the British McAlpine family for the past three generations. In fact, this land can produce over 450 tons of coffee a year. La Minita Tarrazu is grown without artificial fertilizers or pesticides, and its harvesting and selection are done entirely by hand, which avoids, to some extent, the damage that air-jet sorting can cause to the beans.

Other noteworthy coffees include Juan Vinas (PR), H. Tournon, Windmill (SHB), Monte Bello, and Santa Rosa. Premium coffee generally grows in Heredia and the Central Valley. Another remarkable coffee is Sarchi coffee (Sarchi is one of five towns that make up Costa Rica's "Coffee Route"), grown on the slopes of Poas Volcano, 53 kilometers from San José. The Sarchi company was founded in 1949, with land area of 30,770 hectares, cultivating sugarcane and coffee. The region is also famous for handicrafts, attracting tourists from around the world.

Costa Rican Coffee Bean Classification Standards

Premium Costa Rican coffee beans are called "Strictly Hard Beans," with the following classification standards:

Strictly Hard Beans (SHB): Altitude above 1,200 meters (3,900 feet)

Good Hard Beans (GHB): Altitude 1,200-1,000 meters (3,900-3,300 feet)

Medium Hard Beans (MHB): Altitude 1,000-500 meters (3,300-1,600 feet)

Costa Rican coffee beans are relatively small, with defective beans accounting for 2%, and the surface carries some honey. Emerald green indicates high-altitude, slow-grown fresh coffee.

Hard bean coffee grows at relatively high altitudes, while coffee grown lower is generally considered soft bean coffee. Higher altitudes and lower temperatures cause the fruit to mature more slowly, forming harder, less porous beans. Looking at the center line of a green bean, the more open it is, the lower the bean's density; if the center line is closed, the density is higher.

FrontStreet Coffee's Roasting Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee suggests keeping detailed records before roasting Costa Rican coffee beans, including the coffee's moisture content, density, origin, and processing method, as well as the temperature and humidity of the roasting room, and planning your roasting curve accordingly. Record the relevant chemical and physical changes during roasting, as this will help you better understand the final result and improve your roasting curve.

FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican Coffee Bean Brand Recommendation

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Costa Rican coffee beans offer excellent guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer exceptional value: a 227-gram package costs only 95 yuan. At 15 grams per cup, one package makes 15 cups of coffee, for only about 6 yuan per cup. Compared with coffee shop prices that often run to dozens of yuan a cup, this is a genuinely conscientious recommendation, suitable for daily drinking by Costa Rican coffee lovers.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

For a light-roasted, floral and fruit-acid profile, FrontStreet's Yirgacheffe Gotiti Cooperative is a great entry point, with its citrus, berry, and floral notes and a green-tea-like finish. If you want a bolder, juicy washed coffee, FrontStreet's Kenya Cherry Tomato is a benchmark, since Kenya is known for double washed processing, bringing cherry tomato, smoked plum, snow pear, and black plum aromas with a bright, solid acidity. And for the ultimate experience, FrontStreet's Panama Esmeralda Red Label Geisha offers an exceptionally elegant jasmine aroma with citrus, bergamot, and black-tea flavors in a clean, transparent cup with a long finish.