Costa Rica Tarrazú Coffee: Don Mario Farm Coffee Bean Quality, Flavor Profile, Taste Characteristics & Brewing Guide

Costa Rica Tarrazú Region | What are the Flavors 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 frequent use of defensive formations. Coffee production has a very long history, with coffee exports to Britain dating back to 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 emerged in response to Costa Rica's mountainous terrain and poor road transportation. This is because coffee needs to be processed quickly after harvesting - if delayed, coffee beans can become over-fermented and damaged. Mountain farmers therefore remove the fruit skin and pulp after harvesting, leaving the beans with their mucilage layer to dry on raised beds. 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 altitude increases the acidity of coffee beans, thereby enhancing flavor, but also because the lower nighttime temperatures at higher elevations slow tree growth, resulting in more concentrated coffee flavors. Additionally, the topographical variations at high altitudes create sufficient rainfall, which is very beneficial for coffee tree growth. However, although planting coffee at higher altitudes has many advantages, the additional transportation costs must be considered, which could 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," 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.

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 remarkable coffee is Sarchí coffee (Sarchí is one of five towns representing Costa Rica's "Coffee Route"), which grows on the slopes of the Poás Volcano, 53 kilometers from San José. The Sarchí company was founded in 1949, with land area of 30,770 hectares, 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 Instituto del Café de Costa Rica (ICAFE) and has now been taken over by the Oficina del Café. Among exported coffees, those deemed unqualified are dyed with blue plant-based coloring and then returned for domestic sale. Coffee consumed domestically (whether dyed blue or undyed) accounts for approximately 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, referring to coffee beans dried on raised beds and turned every hour, which is called yellow honey processing. This concept originates from Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda.

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

Costa Rica Tarrazú Property Characteristics: Farm Characteristics

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 species of shade trees

Coffee Characteristics

Variety: Caturra

Processing System: Yellow Honey

Appearance: 17-18 screen

Overall Cupping Notes for Costa Rica Tarrazú

Light Roast: Has vanilla dry aroma, sweet ice cream-like wet aroma, orange acidity, with a relatively short aftertaste.

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

FrontStreet Coffee's Recommended Brewing:

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: Fuji Royal grinder setting 3.5

Costa Rica Tarrazú Brewing Method:

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

Analysis: Using a three-stage brewing method to clearly define the front, middle, and back-end flavors of the coffee. Because the V60 has many ribs and faster drainage speed, pausing during pouring helps extend the extraction time.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473