Costa Rica Canet Estate Musicians Series – Chopin Special Report

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Costa Rica Canet Estate Chopin

Region: Tarrazú

Variety: Yellow Catuai

Altitude: 1700m

Processing: Raisin Honey Processing

Region Introduction

Located in the Central American isthmus, Costa Rica is influenced by Pacific and Atlantic ocean currents and sea winds that regulate the climate. The country features numerous towering volcanoes reaching altitudes of 2000 meters. Coffee cherries are able to grow slowly in the fertile volcanic ash soil and high-altitude cool environment, cultivating coffee beans with complete and rich flavors.

Costa Rica can be divided into two seasons throughout the year. The dry season occurs from December to April, which is the coffee harvest season, while the wet (rainy) season is from May to November. In recent years, many micro-processing mills have been established. Since they require only 5% of the water consumption of traditional washed processing mills and don't need large water tanks and drying fields, the required investment is relatively much smaller. "Honey processed coffee" with low acidity, increased complexity, and rich sweet aroma has thus become a competitive target in the coffee industry in recent years.

As early as two hundred years ago, Costa Rica began growing coffee, first planted on the slopes of Poas and Barva volcanoes, which is what we now call the Central Valley. Currently, Costa Rica has eight main producing regions: Western Valley, Central Valley, Tarrazú, Tres Rios, Orosi, Brunca, Turrialba, and Guanacaste.

Tarrazú is one of the main coffee producing areas here. The Tarrazú region has a certain history of coffee production and has once received the favor and recognition of the British royal family, and was even praised in the Pope's speech.

Canet Estate

Canet Estate is located in the highest altitude area of the Tarrazú region and is the most intensive fruit growing area in Costa Rica. Canet Estate mainly grows passion fruit, with coffee quantities being quite rare. Only one specific area grows coffee, receiving special care.

All coffee cherries are hand-picked, harvesting only mature red cherries. However, after harvesting and before processing, they undergo another screening process to remove beans that are not ripe enough or overripe.

Raisin Honey Processing Method

The raisin honey processing method is a type of double-fermentation honey processing. On the day of harvesting coffee cherries, the harvested coffee fruits are poured into large water tanks. Mature and full fruits will sink to the bottom, while underdeveloped or overripe fruits will float to the surface. These floating beans need to be removed. The selected coffee fruits are placed on raised beds to dry into a raisin-like state, then the pulp and skin are removed, preserving the mucilage before further drying. In terms of flavor, the fermentation aroma is more intense, and the flavor layers are richer and fuller. Moreover, the mucilage preservation is higher than other honey processing methods. During the drying process, these coffee cherries must be constantly turned to ensure even drying, but the turning frequency must be controlled to ensure slow drying for fermentation processing without being too slow to cause over-fermentation.

Variety (Yellow Catuai)

Yellow Catuai (Catuai Amarillo) comes from a hybrid of Mundo Novo and Caturra, first cultivated in 1949 by Brazil's "Instituto Agronomico de Campinas." Like Red Catuai (Catuai Rojo), Yellow Catuai has extremely high disease resistance and is suitable for cultivation at high altitudes and windy areas. Both Catuai varieties have very delicate and clean acidity. When observing the raw beans, they appear greenish, with a strong tea aroma and a slight fermented fragrance.

Costa Rica Canet Musician Series includes Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach coffees. This year, the Costa Rica Musician Series added a new coffee bean named Chopin. Unlike other flavors, this Chopin bean has obvious rose floral aroma and prominent sweetness.

Roasting Analysis

Roasting machine: Yangjia 800N semi-direct flame (roasting amount 300g)

Preheat the roaster to 180°C, adjust heat to 130, open the damper to 3, and return to temperature point at 1'36", maintaining heat; at 140°C, keep heat unchanged, open damper to 4. At 5'20", it turns yellow, grassy smell disappears, entering the dehydration stage. At 166°C, reduce heat to 110, keep damper at 4. At 176°C, adjust heat to 80, damper unchanged.

At 8'15", dehydration is complete, wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast aroma turns to coffee aroma, as a prelude to first crack. At this time, pay attention to the sound of first crack. At 9'21", first crack begins, damper fully opened to 5, heat unchanged. Development time after first crack is 2'05", discharge at 195.2°C.

Agtron bean color value is 70.3 (upper image), Agtron ground color value is 78.3 (lower image), Roast Delta value is 8.

Cupping

Flavor: Rose, raisin, berries, fruit tea

Brewing Recommendations

Regarding this bean, FrontStreet Coffee recommends pour-over brewing method:

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90-92°C

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: Medium-fine grind (BG6M: China standard #20 sieve pass rate 58%)

Brewing Method: Segmented extraction

Use 30g of water for 30-second bloom. When pouring water in small circular motions to 125g, segment. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 228g and stop. Wait for the water level to drop and is about to expose the coffee bed, then remove the dripper. (Timing starts from bloom) Extraction time is 1'56".

Flavor: When brewing this Chopin with 92°C water temperature, the citrus acidity and tea sensation are more obvious, with berries. When the temperature slightly cools, there is a rich fermented aroma, and the sweetness lingering between the lips and teeth is more persistent. When brewed with 90°C water temperature, the rose floral aroma is more prominent, with raisins and tea sensation upon entry. When the temperature slightly cools, there is fermented aroma, the mouthfeel is relatively smooth, and the sweetness is also more obvious.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473