Mozart Coffee Characteristics, Flavor Profile Introduction - What is Costa Rican Coffee Bean Raisin Honey Processing

The Musician Series from Hacienda Cañet: A Pioneer in Special Processing

The Musician Series coffee beans from Hacienda Cañet are among the first specially processed coffee beans to appear in China. Their unique flavors amazed those who tasted them at the time, while some industry professionals believed these beans had certain flavorings added to create such distinctive and exaggerated tastes. To this day, FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rica Musician Series remains popular, with its remarkably special flavors derived from its unique processing methods.

Hacienda Cañet: Location and Growing Conditions

Hacienda Cañet is located in the Tarrazú region of Costa Rica, a renowned coffee-producing area whose beans have been favored by the British Royal Family and praised by the Roman Pope. FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rica daily blend beans are selected from the Tarrazú region.

Hacienda Cañet is situated in the highest altitude area of the Tarrazú region, the most intensive fruit-growing area in Costa Rica. The estate primarily grows passion fruit, with coffee being quite scarce, cultivated only in a specific area with special care. All coffee cherries are hand-picked, harvesting only mature red cherries. However, after harvesting and before processing, they undergo another screening step to remove under-ripe or over-ripe beans.

Coffee Varieties and Processing Methods

The estate primarily grows coffee varieties such as Caturra and Catuai, which are common coffee varieties in Central and South America. Caturra is a natural mutation of Bourbon, while Catuai is a hybrid of Caturra and Mundo Novo. Therefore, both varieties offer excellent flavor profiles.

The Musician Series coffee beans from Hacienda Cañet are a project by Taiwan's Black Gold Company. This Musician Series consists of four varieties: FrontStreet Coffee Bach, FrontStreet Coffee Mozart, FrontStreet Coffee Chopin, and FrontStreet Coffee Beethoven. Except for FrontStreet Coffee Beethoven, which uses washed processing, the other three varieties employ the raisin honey processing method.

Raisin Honey Processing Method

Raisin honey processing is a special honey processing method that begins with drying the entire coffee fruit in the sun for 72 hours. After sun-drying, the coffee fruit loses some moisture, appearing wrinkled like raisins. Then, after removing the fruit skin, 100% of the mucilage is retained for further sun-drying. Essentially, this involves a 72-hour sun-drying step before black honey processing. This method produces FrontStreet Coffee Mozart beans with raisin-like (dried fruit) aroma and sweetness, along with wine-like fermentation notes, resulting in very concrete and distinctive flavors.

Roasting Process

FrontStreet Coffee uses the Yangjia 800n semi-direct flame roaster for roasting curve testing, using 300g of green beans for roasting.

The roaster is preheated to 200°C, with heat adjusted to 160 and damper opened to 3. The temperature return point occurs at 1'36", maintaining the heat. At 140°C, the heat is adjusted to 160, and the damper is opened to 4. At 5'20", the beans turn yellow, the grassy aroma disappears, and the dehydration phase begins. At 166°C, the heat is reduced to 130, with the damper remaining at 4. At 176°C, the heat is adjusted to 100, with the damper unchanged.

At 8'05", dehydration is complete, wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, and the toast aroma transitions to coffee aroma, serving as a prelude to first crack. At this point, pay attention to listen for the first crack sound. At 8'55", first crack begins, the damper is fully opened to 5, and heat remains unchanged. The development time after first crack is 1'30", with the beans discharged at 193.2°C.

Pour-over Brewing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over parameter recommendations:

Dose: 15 grams

Ratio: 1:15

Grind size: 80% pass-through through #20 sieve

Water temperature: 90°C

Dripper: V60

FrontStreet Coffee recommends using a three-stage pouring method.

First stage: Pour 30ml of water for a 30-second bloom.

Second stage: Pour in concentric circles from the center outward until reaching 150ml, then pause.

Third stage: When the water level drops to half, pour in concentric circles from the center outward until reaching 225ml.

The extraction time should be between 1 minute 40 seconds and 2 minutes.

FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Mozart pour-over flavor description: The entry presents complex floral aromas and fermented sauce-like notes, carrying raisin and dried fruit-like sweetness, with starfruit and berry acidity, and sugarcane aftertaste.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat of FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473