Costa Rican Coffee Bean Flavor | Costa Rican Coffee Bean Characteristics - Fruity Sweet and Sour Flavor with Mild Taste

FrontStreet Coffee: Introduction to Costa Rican Coffee

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Costa Rica, located in the Central American isthmus, produces world-renowned coffee beans at high altitudes. These beans are rich, mild in flavor, but extremely acidic. The coffee beans here are carefully processed, which is why they achieve such high quality. Costa Rica is located south of the capital San José, in the Tarrazú region, and it is one of the country's most valued coffee growing areas.

Although the development of specialty coffee started relatively late, Costa Rica's specialty coffee industry has developed rapidly. With the mild fruit acidity, smooth texture, and sweet, high-quality berry flavors from honey processing, it has become a force to be reckoned with. The so-called Honey Process refers to the method where, during the washing process, after removing the peel and pulp, a portion of the mucilage is intentionally left for an additional fermentation stage. Depending on the amount of mucilage retained, different flavors and names result.

We commonly see honey processing methods include: Yellow Honey, Red Honey, and Black Honey. For example, Costa Rican Yellow Honey retains about 25% of the mucilage, Red Honey about 50%, and Black Honey retains about 80% of the mucilage. Their most obvious difference is that they become progressively sweeter from yellow to red to black. Combined with richer fruit notes, they are deeply loved by coffee connoisseurs.

This processing method removes the peel and pulp of the coffee cherry while preserving the mucilage around the coffee bean. The beans with mucilage are then placed outdoors for sun-drying. Since the mucilage is quite sticky and has a high sugar content, it wraps around the raw coffee beans like honey during processing. Because the pulp juice contains considerable sweetness and unique enzymes, the processed parchment beans contain richer flavors and complex positive characteristics, with higher sweetness. This is why people vividly call this layer of coffee mucilage "honey," and the entire process is known as "honey processing."

Altitude has always represented the quality of coffee - higher altitude means better quality. Additionally, the significant altitude differences create abundant rainfall, which is very beneficial for coffee tree growth. Moreover, the lower temperatures at high altitudes at night slow down tree growth, allowing coffee cherries to better absorb more nutrients, resulting in richer coffee flavors. Although Costa Rica has gained recognition from coffee connoisseurs through its honey-processed coffee beans, this is inseparable from Costa Rica's superior geographical and climate conditions, and the fact that all cultivated coffee varieties are Arabica.

Knowledge point: The country's most famous growing region is Tarrazu, near the capital San José.

About FrontStreet Coffee

In summary: FrontStreet Coffee is a dedicated coffee research establishment that enjoys sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation, hoping to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Every month, we hold three coffee events with significant discounts. The reason is that FrontStreet Coffee wants to offer the best coffee at the lowest prices to more friends, which has been our mission for the past six years!

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