Costa Rica Western Valley | Laura/Elsa Processing Plant Helsar White Honey Caturra Flavor?

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Costa Rica West Valley | What are the flavor characteristics of Helsar White Honey Caturra from Rola/Elsa Mill?

Helsar Mill is one of the first micro-mills introduced to Taiwan since the micro-mill revolution in Costa Rica began. It appeared on the market as early as 2007, sharing fame with pioneers of the first wave of micro-mill reform such as Herbazu, Brumas, and Las Lajas. The mill 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. He has demonstrated exceptional performance from early washing methods to honey processing in recent years. Like other small farmers in the past, harvested coffee cherries were delivered to medium and large mills for production, and such high-quality green coffee beans were mixed with other general batches for export. Farmers could only earn minimal profits in the industry chain, which not only failed to incentivize 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-mill revolution and established Helsar Mill. Initially, it mainly collaborated with his brother Marvin and Felipe Rodriguez to process green coffee beans from their own Santa Lucia estate. However, 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 and considerable award records in the international coffee market.

Costa Rica is a model producing country for specialty coffee and micro-batch coffee. Over a decade ago, many coffee farmers began establishing their own micro-mills; through continuous improvement of their coffee bean quality year by year, they maintained differentiation from general commercial bulk beans, enabling them to obtain better prices in the market and provide more excellent green coffee beans. Helsar Mill is a standard medium-sized mill in Costa Rica, not only a model for local mills but also has achieved remarkable success internationally 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, the internationally renowned coffee scoring Coffee Review gave it 92 points for three consecutive months in August, September, and October of the same year. In 2011, it won the Canadian Coffee Masters Championship with 651 points, and the following year represented the country in the Vienna World Competition, once again proving the extraordinary value of green coffee beans produced by Helsar Mill.

Coffee Information

Region: West Valley

Producer: Rola Estate

Mill: Helsar

Altitude: 1700M

Variety: Caturra

Processing: White Honey

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

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Brewing:

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: Fuji Rokusho grind size 3.5

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

Analysis:

Using a three-stage brewing method to clearly distinguish the front, middle, and back-end flavors of the coffee. Because the V60 has many ribs and drains water quickly, pausing during pouring can help extend the extraction time.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473