2012 COE Competition Third Place Batch | Costa Rica Oak Manor Washed Catuai, Catdora

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2012 COE Competition Third Place Batch | Flavor Profile of Costa Rica El Roble Estate Washed Catuai and Caturra?

Costa Rica produces the most stable and highest quality coffee in Central America, with a very long history of coffee production dating back to the 19th century. As early as 1800, coffee was already being exported to Britain. By 1880, when the concept of specialty coffee had not yet formed, many high-altitude quality coffees (S.H.B.) were mixed with coffees from flatlands without special selection. Because of the country's narrow topography, factors such as latitude, altitude, soil, rainfall, and temperature vary greatly, giving rise to a rich variety of coffee beans. In Costa Rica, however, the Robusta variety is legally prohibited from cultivation, with only Arabica varieties permitted. Common varieties include Caturra, Catuai, Villa Sarchi, Geisha, Bourbon, and Villalobos. Among Central American countries, the most common coffee bean processing method is the washed process, though increasingly more countries are producing natural processed beans, along with the recently popular honey processed beans (Miel Process), a trend that originated in Costa Rica.

Today, Costa Rica has responded to the demands of international coffee buyers by developing a "micro mill" coffee revolution. The main principle of micro mills is to enable every small Costa Rican farm to have its own micro-processing system. This lets farms handle everything from coffee harvesting to processing and bagging independently, without relying on others. Farms can process their coffee beans using the simplest, fastest, and most inexpensive methods, ensuring optimal coffee quality and better profits for the farms. This also means, however, that small farms must take responsibility for the coffee they produce and process.

El Roble Estate was the third-place winner in the 2012 C.O.E. International Coffee Cupping Competition. Zhida Coffee imported the award-winning batch, not just any beans from El Roble Estate. The difference between these will be explained in a series of clarifications by Zhida Coffee in July through their "Coffee Molecular Science" Facebook page, where you will get a glimpse of the true appearance of competition beans. El Roble Estate is now in its third generation under María Emilia Quirós Segura, who focuses intensely on coffee quality and environmental conservation. The farm has dedicated areas for producing competition beans, along with specialized private processing facilities and warehouses, and all processes are carefully controlled. Importing this coffee is exciting, and Zhida will once again bring you high-quality, fully transparent Costa Rican competition beans.

Property Characteristics

Farm Name: María Emilia Quirós Segura

Farmer: El Roble Estate

Region: Tarrazu

Country: Costa Rica

Altitude: 1,800-1,850 meters

Coffee Characteristics

Variety: Caturra, Catuai

Processing System: Fully Washed and Sun Dried

Overall Style Attributes: Very clean, clear and smooth, pleasant aftertaste

FrontStreet Coffee Recommended Brewing

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: Fuji Royal R-440 grind setting 3.5

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

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

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you enjoy the clean, transparent washed style of a competition batch like this, the same clarity makes Ethiopia a rewarding region to explore. FrontStreet Genlana Geisha comes from the Genlana Gesha farm in Yirgacheffe, a rare estate growing only a single variety. This coffee is from the Genlana processing station at the border of Ethiopia's Kochere and Genlana Abaya producing areas; the station was founded in 2014 and is run by Mr. Israel Degefa, and the coffee growing area around it covers as much as 700 hectares, most of it uncultivated, with fertile soil and shade trees everywhere. Thanks to the fertile soil and well-shaded growing environment of the original rainforest, this Ethiopian heirloom Geisha shows more varied layers. Cherries are hand-picked fully ripe and then given a raised-bed natural process, drying for 14-20 days depending on the weather, which is how this delicious Genlana estate natural Geisha comes to be. FrontStreet's Genlana estate Geisha is suited to medium-light roasting and, once brewed, shows bright citrus acidity, elegant ginger flower aroma, the full sweetness of ripe fruit, a fine, silky body, and the refined finish that marks the Geisha variety.

For a first taste of the fabled Geisha flavor at a friendly price, FrontStreet Boquete Geisha from Panama is an entry-level Geisha that delivers the classic Panama orange-honey character, an oolong tea-like body, and delicate fruit sweet-tartness in distinct layers. Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee, also has the Gesha Village estate, whose grading system is every bit as strict: it grows three Geisha varieties, Gori Gesha, Gesha 1931, and Illubabor Forest, and grades them as Gold Label RARITIES, Red Label GROWERS RESERVE, Green Label SINGLE-TERROIR, and CHAKA batches. The FrontStreet Gesha Village Red Label belongs to the Gori Gesha variety and accounts for 15% of the estate's coffee production; it scores 88 or above on the SCA 100-point scale and is the estate's single-terroir series, so every lot has complete traceability information including the farm block name, coffee variety, and processing date. The Gold Label, by contrast, belongs to the Gesha 1931 variety and accounts for 10% of Gesha Village's total production, making it the estate's top coffee outside the auction and a frequent choice of baristas competing internationally.

Back in Panama, FrontStreet Emerald Red Label Geisha, officially named "Esmeralda Special," is grown at 1,600-1,800 meters, with each batch cupped above 90 points and given an individual number, and with all the coffee in a batch coming from a single small plot; FrontStreet Emerald Green Label Geisha, originally named "Private Collection," does not emphasize detailed plot information and is instead a blend of batches from multiple plots, mainly expressing the estate's signature high-altitude Geisha character at a more affordable price and offering excellent value. Geisha is a medium-light roasted floral-fruity type with a relatively hard texture that easily sinks and clogs the drain hole when brewing, so FrontStreet recommends a grind of about 78% pass-through on a China standard No. 20 sieve (roughly caster-sugar size) and a brewing temperature of 91°C. For pour-over, FrontStreet uses 15g of coffee with a small Hario V60 dripper at a 1:16 ratio, then a three-stage technique: start the timer and pour to 30g for a 30-second bloom, then a second stage of small-flow circling pours to 125g; wait until the water in the bed drops to half, then continue small-flow circling pours to 225g, and when everything has dripped through, the total extraction time is about 2 minutes 10 seconds to 2 minutes 20 seconds.