What Are Strictly Hard Coffee Beans and How Should They Be Roasted? Understanding Coffee Bean Hardness

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Costa Rica Coffee: The Rich Coast's Premium Beans

Costa Rica borders the Caribbean Sea to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west, just as its name means in Spanish: "rich coast." Located in the southern part of the country's capital San José, Tarrazú is one of Costa Rica's most valued coffee growing regions. Tarrazú is one of the world's major coffee producing areas. Coffee cultivation is an extremely important industry in Costa Rica's agriculture. The coffee beans produced in its high-altitude regions are world-renowned, featuring mild flavor, extremely high acidity, aromatic notes, and rich texture, making them widely popular. The raw beans appear green and are generally large in size, all belonging to the Arabica species.

The coffee produced in Costa Rica has a light, pure, and sweet flavor with pleasant aroma. High-quality Costa Rican coffee is known as Strictly Hard Bean (SHB). The coffee beans here are carefully processed, which is why they achieve such high quality. All Costa Rican coffee is Arabica, processed using the washed method. FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican coffee style is bright, full of aroma, clear as wind chimes swaying in the gentle breeze, with moderate acidity and excellent sweetness. Due to its sweetness, it remains delicious even when cooled, which is a distinctive feature of FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican coffee.

Beyond being located within the global coffee belt between north and south latitudes, Costa Rica boasts unique highland volcanic soil environments, acidic soil, and trace elements. The high altitude combined with suitable day-night temperature differences allows Arabica coffee planted in this land to develop into unique specialty-grade high-quality coffee.

Tarrazú: Costa Rica's Premier Coffee Region

The Tarrazú region is the country's best coffee-producing area, perfectly meeting all the growing conditions required for high-quality coffee: altitude, soil, climate, rainfall, forests... The Tarrazú region's average elevation ranges from 1300M to 1600M, enabling over 95% of coffee beans to achieve the superior quality of "SHB Strictly Hard Bean." It has consecutively won Costa Rica's "Cup of Excellence" (COE) championship. The day-night temperature differences at high altitudes and the rich trace elements in volcanic soil give Tarrazú coffee beans a softer character compared to Guatemalan coffee—gentle and bright upon entry, delicate and refreshing. The cane sugar sweetness and nutty bitterness harmoniously coexist, with multiple berry composite flavors creating delicate and complex sweet and sour notes, making it a classic work sought after by top coffee connoisseurs worldwide.

FrontStreet Coffee's SHB Strictly Hard Beans become very crispy when ground after roasting, emitting cream and honey-sweet aromas.

Flavor Description:

1. Dry Fragrance: Almond, cream, cane sugar sweetness; black currant, and multiple berry composite delicate sweet and sour flavors.

2. Wet Aroma: Ripe fruit sweet and sour flavors; brown sugar, cane sugar caramel sweetness; osmanthus, vanilla fresh aromas.

3. Acidity: Peach, sour mango fruit acidity, bright and delicate.

4. Body: Refreshing and bright upon entry, smooth and silky, gentle and rounded.

5. Aftertaste: Sweet aftertaste, micro-acidity turning to sweetness, with flavors reminiscent of sweet and delicate berry juice.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473