Musician Series Mozart Coffee Beans Flavor Profile - Introduction to Honey Processing Characteristics of Mozart Coffee Beans

Costa Rican coffee is generally known for being "sweet as honey," and among FrontStreet Coffee's bean selection, the Costa Rican Musician Series coffee beans perfectly embody this characteristic. The Musician Series is so renowned that even coffee newcomers to specialty coffee have likely heard of it. Among them, FrontStreet Coffee's Mozart coffee beans stand out with particular fame. Before introducing this coffee bean, FrontStreet Coffee, following our usual practice, needs to first provide some background information.

FrontStreet Coffee's bean menu offers a diverse variety, often causing "choice paralysis" for many customers when visiting our stores. Each coffee bean has its own unique characteristics, and Costa Rica's Musician Series is no exception. The Musician Series originates from Canet in the Tarrazú region of Costa Rica. Canet was originally a coffee cherry collection station in its area, but has now transformed into a local coffee processing facility for Taiwan's Black Gold coffee brand. Black Gold employs different processing methods in small batches according to the terroir characteristics of each producing region, presenting coffee enthusiasts with distinctive regional flavors.

Canet is located in the highest altitude area for coffee cultivation in Costa Rica's Tarrazú region. This area is the most densely populated region for fruit cultivation in Costa Rica, primarily growing passion fruit. Coffee cultivation is relatively scarce, with only specific areas dedicated to growing coffee, and special care is taken with the coffee crops. During harvest season, coffee farmers return to their hometowns from all directions, busy with the work of harvesting coffee cherries. After picking ripe coffee cherries, they sell them bucket by bucket to Canet's coffee processing station. When the coffee cherry harvest season ends, they disperse and go their separate ways, working hard to supplement their meager income.

The Origin of the Musician Series Names

The naming convention for this series of coffee beans stems from the fact that Canet's manager is extremely passionate about classical music. When tasting a coffee bean, they associate the characteristics of a musician with the bean's profile, leading to names such as Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin. Some newcomers to specialty coffee who visit FrontStreet Coffee stores are momentarily taken aback when they see the name Mozart, then ask FrontStreet Coffee's baristas if the name Mozart was created by FrontStreet Coffee itself. Through the introduction above, everyone should now understand that it's called "Mozart" because when Canet's manager tasted this particular coffee, they were reminded of Mozart's magnificent compositions and musical talent.

FrontStreet Coffee's Mozart coffee is delightfully sweet and sour, composed of Caturra and Catuai varieties. The Caturra variety is a natural mutation of the Bourbon variety, suitable for cultivation between 700 to 1700 meters. When grown at higher altitudes, the flavor is superior, possessing excellent sweetness, acidity, and aroma with a bright mouthfeel. The Catuai variety was artificially cultivated and hybridized by the São Paulo State Agricultural Institute (IAC) in Brazil using Mundo Novo and Yellow Caturra varieties. The Catuai variety offers superior acidity, clean mouthfeel, and rich fruit aromatics. The blend of these two varieties also brings a very pleasant fruit sweetness and acidity to FrontStreet Coffee's Mozart coffee on our bean menu.

FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Musician Series Mozart Coffee Beans

Region: Costa Rica Tarrazú
Estate: Canet
Altitude: 1980 meters
Grade: SHB
Variety: Caturra, Catuai
Processing Method: Raisin Honey

Everyone who has tasted FrontStreet Coffee's Mozart coffee marvels at its prominent sweetness. This is because FrontStreet Coffee's Mozart coffee beans undergo a raisin honey processing method. Selected coffee cherries are evenly spread on drying beds for sun drying. When the coffee cherries have dried to a raisin-like state, the pulping process begins, followed by final sun drying.

The raisin honey processing method is essentially a double-fermentation honey process. The complete cherries are dried first to remove some moisture from the fruit, then the skin layer is removed while preserving 100% of the mucilage for honey processing fermentation, resulting in more intense fermentation notes. Because this processing method preserves more mucilage than other honey processes, it delivers more prominent sweetness and a fuller mouthfeel. Coffee processed using the raisin honey method exhibits white wine-like mouthfeel and balanced acidity, along with intense fermentation notes and evident sweetness.

Some customers wonder why everyone calls it Mozart, but other shops' versions differ from FrontStreet Coffee's. This is due to differences in roasting styles and roasting curves, leading to subtle variations in the flavors they aim to highlight. When FrontStreet Coffee's roasters roast this exceptionally sweet and fruit-flavored coffee bean, they employ a medium roast degree to preserve these characteristics while emphasizing the full mouthfeel.

FrontStreet Coffee's baristas, upon receiving samples of the roasted Frontsteet Mozart coffee beans, conduct cupping within 8 to 24 hours after roasting. FrontStreet Coffee uses SCAA standards for cupping, with grind size controlled to achieve 70-75% pass-through rate on a Chinese #20 standard sieve, water TDS around 150ppm, water temperature of 94°C, 200ml of hot water, 11g of coffee grounds, and a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:18.18, with an immersion time of 4 minutes. This extraction results in a concentration that falls within the 1.15%-1.35% Golden Cup range.

When cupping this Frontsteet Costa Rica Mozart coffee, the initial impression reveals complex floral notes and fermented sauce-like aromas, with sweetness reminiscent of raisins and preserved fruits, possessing starfruit and berry acidity, sugarcane-like sweet aftertaste, and a full mouthfeel, much like a glass of juice.

Brewing Recommendations

When brewing FrontStreet Coffee's Mozart coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee uses hot water at 91°C to accelerate the dissolution of coffee compounds; employs medium-fine grinding to increase the contact surface area between coffee particles and hot water; and uses Hario V60 to speed up water flow and avoid over-extraction that would produce bitterness.

FrontStreet Coffee understands that some customers don't have coffee bean grinding equipment at home, and we also provide grinding services. However, once ground into powder, the coffee particles degas more quickly, flavor compounds easily evaporate, and the optimal tasting period is significantly reduced. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends that customers with grinding equipment should grind fresh and brew immediately for the best flavor.

Dripper: Hario V60
Water Temperature: 91°C
Coffee Amount: 15g
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: 80% pass-through rate on Chinese #20 standard sieve

First, pour 30g of hot water and let it bloom for 30 seconds. Then, starting from the center, pour in a fine stream while slowly circling to 125g. Wait until the water level in the dripper drops to just below the coffee bed, then continue circular pouring to 225g. Total extraction time should be approximately 2 minutes.

The reason for blooming is to allow carbon dioxide to escape from the coffee beans, enabling more stable flavor expression. With freshly roasted coffee beans, you should see the coffee layer expand during blooming. FrontStreet Coffee delivers coffee beans to customers within 5 days of roasting. By the time they arrive, they have already undergone a 4-7 day degassing period, so when customers receive them, the coffee beans are at their optimal flavor period.

So seeing such a prominently sweet coffee bean, are you tempted? Action speaks louder than words - hands-on experience brings its own rewards.

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Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

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