How to Roast Tarrazu SHB Coffee Beans_Costa Rica Tarrazu Coffee Price Report

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style)

Costa Rica Tarrazu Coffee Beans

Costa Rica Tarrazu coffee beans are classified as the highest grade S.H.B. (Strictly Hard Bean) in Costa Rica's coffee grading system. They feature rich coffee oils, balanced aromatics, and mild chocolate fragrance with a sweet aftertaste. Widely popular globally, they are considered among the world's finest coffees.

Whether enjoyed as a single-origin brew or blended with milk for specialty drinks, the flavor profile is exceptionally suitable.

Flavor Characteristics

Acidity: Bright and vibrant

Body: Rich and full-bodied

Food Pairing: Light sandwiches, strawberry cake, artisanal cookies, nuts, and chocolate

Costa Rica's Premium Coffee Region

Coffee beans produced in Costa Rica's high-altitude regions are world-renowned for their intensity, mild flavor, and pronounced acidity. The coffee beans here undergo meticulous processing, which is precisely why they achieve such high quality. Costa Rica's Tarrazu region, located south of the capital San José, is one of the country's most valued coffee growing areas.

Tarrazu is one of the world's major coffee-producing regions, yielding coffee with light, pure flavors and delightful aromatics. Costa Rica's volcanic soil is exceptionally fertile with excellent drainage, making it the first Central American country to cultivate coffee and bananas for commercial purposes. Coffee and bananas remain the country's primary export commodities. Coffee was introduced to Costa Rica from Cuba in 1729, and today its coffee industry is among the world's best-organized, achieving yields of up to 1,700 kilograms per hectare. With a population of only 3.5 million, Costa Rica boasts over 400 million coffee trees, with coffee exports accounting for 25% of the country's total export value. Costa Rica also benefits from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) established in Tarrazú, which serves as an important international research center.

Strictly Hard Bean (S.H.B.) Classification

Premium Costa Rican coffee is known as "Strictly Hard Bean" (S.H.B.), indicating coffee grown at altitudes above 1,500 meters. Altitude has always been a crucial factor for coffee growers. Higher altitudes produce better coffee beans not only because they increase acidity and enhance flavor, but also because lower nighttime temperatures at higher elevations slow tree growth, resulting in more concentrated flavors. Additionally, the altitude gradient provides abundant rainfall, which is highly beneficial for coffee tree cultivation.

S.H.B. indicates strictly hard beans grown above 1,500 meters altitude, signifying high-quality Costa Rican coffee. These strictly hard coffee beans, suitable for medium and dark roasts, possess strong acidity and captivating aromatics. Costa Rican SHG (Strictly High Grown) coffee typically features full, uniform beans, clear flavors, bright acidity, and ideal viscosity. The robust flavor creates a long-lasting, memorable finish that lingers on the palate.

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

The Costa Rican Coffee Revolution

Costa Rica's finest coffee apparently comes from small processing mills scattered throughout major coffee-producing regions, including Tarrazu and the Western Valley. This so-called coffee revolution, which began 15 years ago, has dramatically changed how roasting experts and importers perceive Costa Rican coffee. Centered around processing mills that collect coffee beans from surrounding small farms for processing, these farms are typically small communities or family operations growing coffee on their own small plots of land, with all coffee processed and dried by a single small processing mill.

Tarrazu Coffee Roasting Analysis

Tarrazu coffee grows at relatively high altitudes, while coffee grown at lower altitudes is typically considered soft bean coffee. Higher altitudes and lower temperatures cause slower fruit maturation, resulting in harder, less porous coffee beans. Observing the center line of green coffee beans, the more open the center line, the lower the bean's density. If the coffee bean's center line is closed, its density will be higher.

FrontStreet Coffee suggests keeping thorough data records before roasting: coffee bean moisture content, density, origin, processing method, ambient temperature and humidity in the roasting room, and planning your roasting curve accordingly. Recording chemical and physical changes during the roasting process will help you better understand the final roasting results and improve your roasting curve.

This Catura variety, processed using the honey method, features high density and uniform, full beans (thick from bean core to surface). Roasting method: Extend the roasting time longer, adjusting heat once dehydration is complete, opening the damper to maximum at first crack, and developing for 2 minutes before dropping the beans.

Roasting Profile:

Preheat roaster to 200°C, charge beans with damper at 3. After 1 minute, reduce heat to 160°C, damper unchanged. At 5'35", temperature reaches 152°C, beans turn yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, dehydration complete. Reduce heat to 130°C, damper to 4;

At 8'40", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on bean surface, toast aroma clearly transitions to coffee aroma, definable as first crack prelude. Listen carefully for the first crack sound. At 9'00" first crack begins, reduce heat to 70°C, damper fully open (adjust heat very carefully, not so low that cracking stops), drop beans at 196.0°C.

Cupping Notes:

Dry Aroma: Floral, creamy, citrus, lemon, sugarcane sweetness

Wet Aroma: Toffee sweetness, white grape, wild berries

Slurping: Berry compote, sweet orange, peach, pomelo, juicy sensation, natural sweetness, delicate texture, overall perfect and balanced.

Recommended Costa Rica Tarrazu Coffee Brands

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted Costa Rica Tarrazu coffee beans - Shumava Estate Black Honey Process coffee beans - offer complete assurance in both brand and quality. More importantly, they provide exceptional value: a half-pound (227g) package costs only 95 yuan. Calculating at 15g per single-origin cup, one package makes 15 cups, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. This represents extremely high value compared to the dozens of yuan typically charged per cup in coffee shops.

About FrontStreet Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small storefront but diverse bean varieties, offering both famous and lesser-known beans, plus online shop services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473