2016 COE 2nd Place Costa Rica | Central Valley [Honey King] Brumas del Zurqui Region Caturra Red Honey Process

2016 COE 2nd Place Costa Rica | Central Valley's "Honey King" Brumas Region Caturra Red Honey Processing Flavor?

Brumas Estate & Micro-Mill (Brumas del Zurqui), known as the "Honey King," is renowned in Taiwan's specialty coffee scene. "Brumas" means "valley full of clouds" in the local language. Estate owner Juan Ramon Alvarado is a fourth-generation coffee farmer with an agricultural degree from EARTH University. His family has grown coffee since 1880, but only in 2004 did they establish their own processing plant, producing roughly 750 bags of coffee a year—a producer dedicated to quality over quantity. Juan Ramon uses a BRIX meter to measure fruit sugar content and pinpoint the optimal harvest moment: by his practical experience, the best flavor with balanced sweetness and acidity arrives when sugar content reaches 15.5%.

Under the estate's process, cherries are depulped right after harvest, with a pulp scraper controlling how much pulp is removed while retaining a measured layer of mucilage. Unlike traditional washed processing, no fermentation is used to strip the mucilage; instead the cherries dry with the mucilage intact, and the dried mucilage and parchment are removed afterward. Juan Ramon calls the result "Honey Coffee": lower acidity, enhanced complexity, and rich sweet aromas. Through stable, uniform, careful sun-drying, sugars and alcohol compounds from the surrounding pectin diffuse through the coffee, boosting sweetness and creating a fuller body, before a final rest on raised beds. The method uses only 5% of the water a traditional washed mill requires. Its flavor expression depends on how much pulp is retained—a test of both the processor's skill and nerve. There are real risks: drying failures that invite mold, or uneven, overly rapid drying that triggers excessive fermentation. Even so, this emerging method has swept Central America in recent years and shone brilliantly in competitions.

Brumas Micro-Mill won first place in Costa Rica's Cup of Excellence in 2012, then took second place consecutively in 2015 and 2016—their processing craftsmanship is genuinely impressive.

Coffee Details

2016 COE 2nd Place; 2015 COE 2nd Place; 2012 COE 1st Place.

Region: Central Valley, San Isidro micro-region.

Location: Costa Rica, Heredia, San Isidro, San Francisco

Producer: Brumas Micro-Mill (Brumas del Zurqui)

Director: Alvarado Rodriguez

Established: 2002

Altitude: 1,600 m

Processing Method: Red Honey Processing

Variety: Caturra

Flavor Description: Vanilla, candied fruit, orange marmalade, small flowers, cocoa notes, rounded acidity, full body texture.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommended Brewing

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: Fuji Royal grinder setting 3.5

Brewing Method: Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, 15g coffee grounds. First pour 25g water, bloom for 25 seconds. Second pour to 120g water, then stop pouring. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to halfway, then continue pouring slowly until reaching 225g total water. Extraction time approximately 2:00.

Analysis: The three-stage method clearly defines the front, middle, and back-end flavors of the coffee. Because the V60 has many ribs and fast drainage, pausing the pour helps extend the extraction time.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Honey processing evolved from Brazil's pulped natural (semi-dried) method—removing the cherry skin before drying shortens the drying period while avoiding the off-flavors of improper fermentation; FrontStreet Coffee's Cerrado is a classic Brazilian example with its cream, peanut, nut, and chocolate profile. Costa Rica borrowed the technique and refined it by varying how much mucilage is retained and how long the beans dry, giving rise to the now-familiar gradations of white, yellow, red, and black honey.

At the most demanding end sits black honey, where almost none of the mucilage is removed and drying stretches at least two weeks under shade covers so the sugars fully transform. FrontStreet Coffee's Blackberry, finished this way and roasted medium-light, releases an intense fresh-floral fragrance when ground and drinks of grape, berries, and ripe blackberry.

For something more innovative, try the raisin honey process used in the FrontStreet Mozart: cherries are pre-dried on raised beds for at least three days before the skin and pulp are removed, with 100% of the mucilage retained—requiring stricter timing than even black honey. The reward is a richer hot-fruit sweetness: osmanthus, pineapple, and raisin through pour-over, cold brew, or moka pot. And the FrontStreet Strawberry Sugar Geisha blend pairs a raisin-honey Costa Rican component with Panama Geisha—hand-sorted by flotation, dried at least three days on raised beds with constant turning—combining Geisha's floral-tea character with grape and dried blueberry aromatics, soft acidity, an almond finish, and obvious sweetness.