Costa Rica Western Valley | What is the Flavor Profile of Helsar White Honey Caturra from Laura/Elsa Processing Plant?

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Costa Rica West Valley | What is the flavor of Helsar White Honey Caturra from Lourdes/Rola Estate?

Helsar processing plant is considered one of the earliest micro-processing plants introduced to Taiwan since this wave of micro-processing plant revolution in Costa Rica, appearing on the market as early as 2007, alongside first-wave micro-processing plant reform pioneers such as Herbazu, Brumas, La Hacienda... etc. The processing plant owner, Ricardo Pérez Barrantes, has been growing coffee in Costa Rica for over 40 years and is an experienced coffee producer dedicated to innovation in processing methods. From the earliest washed processing to the honey processing methods of the past decade, he has achieved outstanding results. Like other small farmers in the early days, harvested coffee cherries were delivered to medium and large processing plants for production, and such high-quality green coffee beans were mixed with other general batches for export, allowing farmers to obtain only small profits in the industrial chain. This not only failed to motivate farmers to pursue better green bean quality but also could not improve farmers' living standards. In view of this, in 2004, the Ricardo family joined the micro-processing plant revolution and established Helsar processing plant. Initially, it mainly cooperated with his brother Marvin and Felipe Rodriguez to process green coffee beans from their own estate - Santa Lucia Estate. In recent years, it has also begun handling high-quality coffee cherries produced by small farmers in micro-regions such as Lourdes de Naranjo and Llano Bonito de Naranjo in the West Valley. In recent years, it has received high evaluations in the international coffee market and considerable award records.

Costa Rica is a model producing country for specialty coffee and micro-batch coffee. More than a decade ago, many coffee farmers began establishing their own micro-processing plants; through continuously improving their coffee bean quality year by year, maintaining differentiation from general commercial bulk beans, they have been able to obtain better prices in the market and provide more excellent green coffee beans. Helsar processing plant is a standard medium-sized processing plant in Costa Rica, not only a model for local processing plants but also has achieved remarkable success in international markets over the years. In 2007, it received a high evaluation of 91.37 points in Cup of Excellence (CoE), gaining recognition with a third-place finish that year. In 2010, it received 92 points for three consecutive months in August, September, and October from the internationally renowned coffee rating Coffee Review. In 2011, it won the championship with 651 points in the Canadian Coffee Masters Championship, and the following year represented the country in the Vienna World Competition, once again proving the extraordinary value of the green coffee beans produced by Helsar processing plant.

Coffee Details

Region: West Valley

Grower: Lourdes de Naranjo Rola Estate

Processing Plant: Helsar

Altitude: 1700m

Variety: Caturra

Processing Method: White Honey

Flavor Description: Floral, white wine, citrus gummy, refined and bright, light and lively acidity

FrontStreet Coffee Recommended Brewing:

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: Fuji grind setting 3.5

Brewing Method: Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, 15g coffee, first pour 25g water for 25s bloom, second pour to 120g water then stop, wait until the coffee bed water level drops to half before pouring again, slowly pour until reaching 225g water, extraction time around 2:00

Analysis: Using three-stage brewing to clearly distinguish the front, middle, and back-end flavors of the coffee. Because V60 has many ribs and faster drainage speed, stopping the water flow can extend the extraction time.

Important Notice :

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