What Coffee Beans Are Best for Pour-Over Coffee? Finca La Miel Red Honey Process Coffee | Coffee Origin

Coffee Information

Coffee Origin: Costa Rica

Estate Name: Farami Estate, Tarrazu, Costa Rica

Processing Method: Red Honey Process

Variety: 100% Arabica Catuai

Flavor Profile: Milk chocolate, toffee, apple, lemon, honey syrup texture, full and robust mouthfeel

Roast Level: Light-Medium

Altitude: 1700m

Award Record: 2013 COE Third Place Award-winning Estate

Farami Estate

Farami Estate sits in the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica, on the south-facing slopes of the Talamanca Mountains at elevations of 1,600-1,700 meters. The climate is pleasant and the volcanic soil fertile, and the farm is jointly run by Juan Luis Fallas Mata and his wife Maria Eugenia Ramirez. They farm naturally and operate on a concept of 100% integrated livestock farming.

What makes Farami's micro-lots famous is its specialty: high-quality honey-processed coffee. The team handpicks only deep purple cherries, removes the outer skin on cold nights, and carefully preserves the subtle sweetness that gradually passes from the pulp into the beans inside a small temperature-controlled room.

Farami lies in the Dota Tarrazu area of the Tarrazu region. The owners, Juan Luis and Maria, are deeply passionate about farm life. They make full use of every agricultural residue on the estate, aiming for self-sufficiency and sustainable operation. Besides coffee, they raise poultry and livestock, including 25 breeding pigs, 8 sheep, 3 goats, 1,500 broiler chickens, 50 laying hens, and dozens of ducks and geese. Walking onto the estate is a series of surprises: goats come forward to join your walk, piglets nestle with their mothers, and chicks chirp and forage by the roadside.

Luis makes full use of livestock manure and coffee pulp to produce organic compost, giving the coffee trees ample natural nutrients. He has also built two biogas generators that run on livestock manure and coffee fermentation liquid to produce gas for household cooking. He built a greenhouse fitted with African-style drying racks for coffee, which grows tomatoes in winter.

Farami Estate is inherited from the coffee plantations of two families, Fallas and Ramirez, which is where the name comes from. Luis and his wife are committed to coexisting harmoniously with the natural environment. Farami has not used chemical herbicides for 14 years. They are meticulous about every step of processing too, such as using African-style drying racks for sun drying surrounded by nets to keep estate animals out. The coffee is planted on steep slopes above the estate buildings at altitudes reaching 1,650 meters or higher. Sitting on stones under the shade trees and looking out over the valley below and the streets of Santa Maria town is pure joy. The cold nights on the estate help the pulp ferment for honey-processed lots, making the sweetness more pronounced. The green bean warehouse is a temperature-controlled independent space. That dedication has paid off in the cup, winning third place at CoE in 2013 and an excellent 17th place with 86.93 points in 2014.

Coffee Varieties

Catuai is an Arabica variety, a hybrid cross of Caturra and Mundo Novo. Caturra plants are short while Mundo Novo plants are tall, and the hybrid improved the height to make harvesting easier. The taste is sweet, with sweetness similar to Caturra but less acidity and astringency, improving the drawbacks of poor flavor and offering good balance.

Honey Process

Honey process (also called pulped natural or semi-dry) sits between natural and washed processes. After the skin and pulp are removed, the mucilage is retained and dried in the sun. The "honey" name comes from the very sticky mucilage layer, which feels as sticky as honey. That layer holds high proportions of sugar and acidity, which is the key to the honey process, producing flavors that fall between natural and washed.

Yellow Honey (retains approximately 25% of the mucilage layer) yields a shorter drying time and less enzymatic reaction of the sugars in the mucilage.

Red Honey (retains approximately 50% of the mucilage layer) yields a slightly longer drying time and a moderate enzymatic reaction of the sugars in the mucilage.

Black Honey (retains approximately 100% of the mucilage layer) yields the longest drying time and more enzymatic reaction of the sugars in the mucilage.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To compare a honey-processed cup from a different angle, try FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rica Mozart. It uses a raisin honey process that keeps 100% of the mucilage, pre-drying the cherries on raised beds for at least three days before the skin and pulp come off. Brew it as pour-over, cold brew or in a moka pot and you get distinctive osmanthus, pineapple and raisin aromatics.

For a bright, fruit-driven pour-over, FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Gudingding is a classic choice. The Gudingding cooperative in the Worka area follows the traditional washed process, and the cup shows no bitterness, only fresh, bright citrus and lemon acidity with jasmine florals -- a very approachable entry point for anyone getting into pour-over.