Recommended Single-Origin Coffee Beans from the Americas - Introduction to Costa Rica's La Guaca Estate Catuai Honey Process

FrontStreet Coffee - Costa Rica La Guaca Estate Catuai Honey Process

La Guaca Estate, in operation for roughly thirty years, was founded by its current owner, Regulo Gerard. The land was originally livestock hillside, with its lowest point at about 1,200 meters rising to 2,000 meters at the top. Coffee cultivation began on the lowest slopes, and Regulo divided the land into five coffee farms according to altitude and slope orientation. For the next twenty-some years, he sold his coffee cherries to processing mills in town.

Like most coffee farmers of his generation, he poured all his energy into caring for the trees and his family...

But the income was poor and unpredictable. Then in 2002, international coffee futures prices hit rock bottom, and Costa Rica launched its "micro-mill revolution." Farmers everywhere hoped their micro-batch beans would catch the discerning eye of international specialty buyers, breaking free once and for all from the brutal commercial-coffee price cycle...

With no model to follow and no specialty buyers knocking, the owner made a resolute decision: he invested tens of thousands of dollars in a "Penagos" micro-honey processing machine and named his new micro-mill Rivense — staking the entire coffee business and his family's future on an unproven venture...

Costa Rica La Guaca Estate Catuai Honey Process

Region: Brunca

Estate: La Guaca Estate

Grade: SHB

Variety: Catuai

Altitude: 1,600 meters

Processing: Black Honey

Flavor Profile: The dry aroma offers plum, nut, and caramel notes. On the palate there are creamy nuts, fruit-wine aromas, the sweet-tart character of red-fleshed plum, and a jujube-like sweetness. The body is thick and full, with a finish reminiscent of fresh green grass.

Knowledge Point: Though we call them "beans," coffee beans are in fact the seeds of the fruit of a Rubiaceae plant — the coffee tree.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Honey processing began life as Brazil's pulped natural (semi-dried) method — skin removed, then dried — which shortens drying time while avoiding the off-flavors of uncontrolled fermentation. Costa Rican producers borrowed the idea and refined it by controlling how much mucilage is retained and how long the drying lasts, giving rise to the black, red, yellow, and white honey categories. La Guaca's Black Honey Catuai above is a superb example: with almost all the mucilage left on and at least two weeks of careful, shaded, regularly turned drying, the cup shows dense sweetness and a full body.

For another take on Costa Rican honey innovation, try the FrontStreet Costa Rica Mozart, made with the raisin honey process: cherries are first dried on raised beds for at least three days before the skin and pulp are removed, with 100% of the mucilage retained — a demanding method that rewards you with rich dried-fruit sweetness and distinctive notes of osmanthus, pineapple, and raisin, delicious as pour-over, cold brew, or moka pot coffee.