Costa Rica Honey Process Coffee Beans Flavor Characteristics & Story | Honey Process Coffee Taste Profile

When it comes to which region produces the best honey-processed coffee beans, Costa Rica undoubtedly takes the crown. As the birthplace of honey processing, Costa Rica's honey processing techniques have naturally been perfected over time. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will share with you the story of Costa Rican honey-processed coffee beans' flavor characteristics, and what taste characteristics they exhibit when brewed.

Origin of Costa Rican Coffee Honey Processing

Honey processing was developed by coffee farmers in the Costa Rica region. The background for this development was that most coffee-growing areas in Costa Rica are located on steep mountains with inconvenient transportation. When coffee cherries from their farms were transported down to washing processing stations at the base of the mountains, many cherries were found to be damaged, which reduced coffee bean yield and consequently reduced income. This led to the development of honey processing.

Secondly, as FrontStreet Coffee understands, there were few green bean buyers purchasing high-quality coffee cherries from the Costa Rican mountains, which meant a lack of sales channels. These bean buyers would purchase at extremely low, exploitative prices, so mountain coffee farmers didn't trust these buyers, which led them to invent honey processing to sell coffee beans directly and earn more income to sustain their livelihoods.

Currently, because of their excellent flavor performance, honey processing methods are widely used in Central American coffee regions. Costa Rica has also developed many special honey processing methods. For example, the Costa Rican Musician Series at FrontStreet Coffee includes FrontStreet Coffee's Bach coffee beans and FrontStreet Coffee's Mozart coffee beans, which are made using raisin honey processing and anaerobic honey processing respectively.

What is Honey Processing?

Honey processing, called Honey Process or Miel Process, is a method where the pulp is removed, and the fruit with the parchment is dried.

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, coffee bean processing methods mainly include washed processing and natural processing. Natural processing, as the name suggests, is a method of naturally drying coffee beans after harvest; washed processing removes the pulp and then eliminates the mucilage through fermentation; honey processing is a compromise between these two methods. Many people, upon hearing the name "honey processing," might think this is a process using honey for processing, or that the coffee will have a honey flavor after processing, but this is not the case. During the drying process, the moisture in the mucilage on the bean surface evaporates, making it as viscous as honey, hence the name.

Honey Processing Method Steps

1. Like the first step of washed processing, all coffee cherries are placed in water to remove floating beans and defective beans, preserving only good coffee cherries.

2. Place the selected coffee cherries directly on raised beds for drying for at least three days to reduce the moisture content of the cherries to 20%.

3. Then put the dried coffee beans into a depulper to remove the skin and pulp, leaving the mucilage. This is why honey-processed coffee beans are sweet, because the mucilage is the part of the coffee cherry with the highest sugar content.

4. Then dry the coffee beans with retained mucilage until the moisture content reaches 11%, at which point they can be stored in a warehouse.

Additionally, as FrontStreet Coffee understands, honey processing is also classified according to the amount of mucilage retained. Coffee beans with 40% mucilage removed are called yellow honey; honey-processed coffee beans with 25% mucilage removed are classified as red honey; and there is also a type of honey-processed green coffee beans that retains 100% mucilage, classified as black honey.

Honey-processed green coffee beans also require great attention during the drying process. Because honey-processed coffee beans retain mucilage, they have a lot of mucilage, and during drying, they need to be constantly turned to prevent mold and over-fermentation.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Honey Processing

Advantages: Because honey processing is an improved method of natural processing, the pulp is removed at the beginning, so there are no mold problems. Additionally, it doesn't require large amounts of fresh water, making it lower cost.

Disadvantages: The processing steps can be said to be the most complex and labor-intensive of all methods.

Honey Processing Flavor

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, honey processing can increase the sweetness of coffee while relatively reducing its acidity. Its aroma will also be more delicate. Of course, this is when the honey processing is executed well; if executed poorly, it will have an unpleasant vinegar-like taste, with pungent aromas like onion or garlic. Even when executed quite well, it will still carry some earthy flavors, and the aftertaste will be less clean, with more miscellaneous flavors than typical washed processing. Therefore, overall, honey processing carries much higher risk than general wet processing methods.

Secondly, honey processing is also divided into three types by color: yellow honey, red honey, and black honey. What are their differences? FrontStreet Coffee will now answer this for coffee enthusiast friends.

What is the Difference Between Yellow, Red, and Black Honey?

Black Honey: Almost no mucilage is removed, so drying takes the longest time, requiring continuous drying for over 14 days. During the process, to avoid drying too quickly, coverings are used to block too much strong sunlight, allowing for more complete sugar conversion.

Red Honey: 25% mucilage is removed (specific practices vary by estate), sun-dried for about 12 days, and shade covers may also be used during the process. Coffee is turned several times daily, but not as frequently as yellow honey.

Yellow Honey: 40% mucilage is removed, dried with maximum light exposure for about 8 days, with coffee placed on racks and turned once every hour.

Therefore, from yellow honey to black honey, the drying time required is longer, and management requirements become more stringent. If we must choose the best among the three, FrontStreet Coffee believes that black honey has the best flavor because it retains the most parchment, resulting in the richest and most intense taste.

The production of yellow and red honey is also because coffee farmers need to consider from a commercial perspective. Considering costs and prices, providing consumers with multiple choices is also feasible.

Why Are Honey-Processed Coffee Beans So Popular?

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, honey-processed coffee beans exhibit excellent sweetness in flavor performance. This sweetness completely changes the traditional concept that coffee is bitter for many coffee enthusiasts, making it very popular among those new to coffee beans. Additionally, many enzyme processing methods for coffee beans have been inspired by honey processing, resulting in even higher flavor sweetness.

Furthermore, as FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, honey processing includes three types, with black honey-processed coffee beans having the highest sweetness and best flavor, corresponding to more stringent processing conditions. This means the coffee beans can have stable quality assurance, naturally attracting coffee enthusiasts willing to pay for delicious flavors, which is another reason why honey-processed coffee beans are popular.

Next, FrontStreet Coffee will share some popular FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rican honey-processed coffee beans with everyone!

FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rican Musician Series Mozart Coffee Beans

• Country: Costa Rica
• Region: Tarrazú
• Altitude: 1800m
• Variety: H1
• Processing: Raisin Honey
• Flavor: Raisin acidity, berries, floral notes, fermented wine aroma

Mozart, known as a child prodigy who epitomized classical music, is famous for his magnificent classical compositions. The magnificent aroma of FrontStreet Coffee's Mozart coffee beans refers to the elegant floral notes that FrontStreet Coffee Mozart coffee emits, similar to white flower fragrances like orange blossom, which FrontStreet Coffee can also perceive during brewing. The magnificent taste refers to Mozart coffee having abundant dark berries, raisins, and trace amounts of red berry flavors. In the middle to late stages, one can also feel slight plum acidity and gummy bear-like sweetness; after cooling, it still retains floral notes and sweetness. The flavor is quite unique, truly allowing one to experience the magnificent taste.

FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rican Musician Series Bach Coffee Beans

• Country: Costa Rica
• Region: Tarrazú
• Altitude: 1950m
• Variety: H1
• Processing: Raisin Honey
• Flavor: Fermented wine aroma, berries, fruit tea notes

Bach's music is exquisite, rich in layers, and clearly organized. This FrontStreet Coffee Bach coffee bean has dry aromas of strawberry, blackberry, raisin, and other fruit-like fragrances, and also emits waves of fruit aroma during brewing. When FrontStreet Coffee first brews it, there are obvious floral and fruit aromas, and upon tasting, one experiences intense fruit aroma and sweet-sour taste. The middle to late stages carry a slight wine aroma, like red wine. After cooling, it has candied fruit sweetness, and the wine aroma becomes more pronounced, even allowing one to perceive plum wine flavors. Such an exquisite taste experience is indeed like Bach's music, with every sip feeling as if immersed in the magnificence and rigor of Baroque aesthetics.

The above two honey-processed coffee beans come from the Canet Estate in Costa Rica's Tarrazú region. The names come from the estate owner's great love for music, using musicians' names as the coffee bean names, and each has its own unique flavor characteristics. Interested coffee enthusiasts might want to try these two honey-processed coffee beans. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will share the pour-over extraction parameters for these two coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rican Coffee Bean Brewing Recommendations

• Dripper: Hario V60 #01
• Dose: 15g
• Ratio: 1:15
• Water Temperature: 90°C
• Grind Size: Medium-fine grind (81% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Technique: Segmented extraction method.

First, use 30g of water to fully moisten the coffee bed into a "hamburger" shape and bloom for 30s, then proceed to the second stage of brewing. For the second stage, FrontStreet Coffee uses steady, medium-fine water flow in circular motions, injecting water to 125g when the timer reaches 55s, then stopping to wait for the water level to drop to 2/3 of the coffee bed before injecting the third stage. FrontStreet Coffee continues with flat flow until 1 minute 55 seconds.

FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rican Bach Coffee Bean Brewing Flavor: At high temperature, it shows grape-like sweet-sourness and wine-like fermentation notes. As it gradually cools, it reveals red berry-like juiciness and rose fragrance. The aftertaste is caramel-like sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rican Mozart Coffee Bean Brewing Flavor: Berries, fermented aroma, with notes of raisin and sweet orange upon entry. As temperature changes, the fermented wine aroma and osmanthus fragrance become more pronounced.

The above are the pour-over brewing parameters for FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican coffee beans shared by FrontStreet Coffee. We hope this helps all coffee enthusiasts, so you can brew the correct coffee flavors in future pour-over processes.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

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