Tarrazú Region, Costa Rica | Flavor Profile of Don Mario Farm's Yellow Honey Process Caturra

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

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

Costa Rica Tarrazú Region | Flavor Profile of Don Mario Farm's Yellow Honey Processed Caturra

Costa Rica produces the most stable and highest quality coffee in Central America, and is also the most conservative. This can be seen from their World Cup soccer team's consistent defensive formations. Coffee production has a very long history, with coffee already being exported to Britain as early as the 1800s in the 19th century.

In Costa Rica, the Robusta variety is legally prohibited from cultivation, with only Arabica varieties being permitted. Honey processing has recently become a focus for Taiwanese coffee professionals. Honey processing was developed in response to Costa Rica's mountainous terrain and poor road transportation. Why? Because coffee needs to be processed quickly after harvesting. If processing is delayed, coffee beans can become over-fermented and damaged. Mountain farmers therefore remove the pulp and fruit skin after harvesting, leaving the beans with their mucilage layer to dry on elevated racks. This was the prototype of honey processing.

High-quality Costa Rican coffee is known as "Strictly Hard Bean" (SHB), which can grow at altitudes above 1,500 meters. Altitude has always been a challenge for coffee growers. The higher the altitude, the better the coffee beans - not only because higher altitudes increase the acidity and thus enhance flavor, but also because the lower nighttime temperatures at higher elevations slow tree growth, resulting in more concentrated coffee bean flavors. Additionally, the elevation differences create abundant rainfall, which is very beneficial for coffee tree growth. However, while there are many advantages to growing coffee at higher altitudes, the additional transportation costs must be considered, which can make coffee production unprofitable. Costa Rica's coffee industry has adopted new technologies to increase efficiency, including using "electric eyes" to select beans and identify irregularly sized coffee beans.

Tarrazú is located south of the country's capital, San José, and is one of the country's most valued coffee-growing regions. "La Minita Tarrazú" coffee is a local specialty with limited production of approximately 72,600 kilograms annually. It is grown on land called "La Minita," which has been owned by the British McAlpine family for the last three generations. In fact, this land can produce over 450 tons of coffee annually. However, La Minita Tarrazú coffee is grown without artificial fertilizers or pesticides, and its harvesting and selection are completed entirely by hand. This is done to avoid the damage that air-jet sorting methods can cause to coffee beans to some extent.

Other noteworthy coffees include: Juan Vinas (PR), H. Tournon, Windmill (SHB), Monte bello, and Santa Rosa. Premium coffee generally grows in Heredia and the Central Valley. Another notable coffee is Sarchí coffee (Sarchí is one of the five towns representing Costa Rica's "Coffee Route"), which grows on the slopes of Poas Volcano, 53 kilometers from San José. The Sarchí company was founded in 1949, with 30,770 hectares of land for growing sugarcane and coffee. This region is also famous for handicrafts, attracting tourists from around the world.

The country's coffee industry was originally controlled by the Costa Rican Coffee Institute (Instituto del Café de Costa Rica, abbreviated ICAFE) but has now been taken over by the Official Coffee Office (Oficina del Café). Among exported coffees, those deemed unqualified are dyed with blue plant-based coloring before being returned for domestic sale. Coffee consumed domestically (whether dyed blue or not) accounts for about 10% of total production, with local per capita coffee consumption being twice that of Italy or the United States.

Yellow honey processing is the most recently defined method, which involves drying coffee beans on elevated racks while turning them every hour. This concept originates from Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda.

Honey processed beans: After harvesting, the skin and pulp are removed, leaving the coffee beans with their mucilage layer. They are then sent to drying fields until the moisture content reaches 16%, after which they are transferred to drying machines to achieve uniform moisture content. Before shipping, the parchment is rubbed to remove the membrane from the surface.

Property Characteristics: Farm Features

Farm Name: Don Mario

Region: Tarrazú

Country: Costa Rica

Altitude: 1,350-1,500 meters

Annual Precipitation: 2,500-2,700 mm

Soil: Volcanic clay

Type of Shade Trees: 36 varieties of shade trees

Coffee Characteristics: Coffee Features

Variety: Caturra

Processing System: Yellow Honey

Appearance: 17-18 screen

Direct Coffee Cupping Overall Evaluation

Light Roast: Has vanilla dry aroma, with ice cream sweetness in the wet aroma, orange acidity, and a relatively short aftertaste.

Medium Roast: Excellent honey and brown sugar sweetness, very suitable for those new to drinking black coffee, smooth and sweet.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommended Brewing:

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: Fuji Royal R-440 grinder setting 3.5

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

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

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473