Central American Coffee Origin Introduction: Is Costa Rican Coffee Sweet in Flavor?

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FrontStreet Coffee - Costa Rican Coffee Introduction

Costa Rica

Costa Rica, located in Central America, boasts climate and soil conditions exceptionally suitable for coffee cultivation, with a coffee-growing history spanning two hundred years. In recent years, Costa Rica has aligned with market trends, vigorously developing premium coffee. Despite limited production volume, Costa Rican coffee has secured an important position in the international specialty coffee market, renowned for its excellent quality, pure flavor, and rich aroma.

Situated in the Central American isthmus with numerous volcanoes throughout its territory, Costa Rica enjoys natural advantages of abundant sunlight and fertile land. The climate is harmoniously influenced by Pacific and Atlantic ocean currents and sea breezes, resulting in coffee that reflects the unique characteristics of local microclimates and terroir. These regional characteristics led Costa Rica to revolutionize its coffee processing methods. Due to water scarcity, Costa Rica developed the honey processing method for coffee beans and was the first origin to adopt this technique. Known as Honey Process or Miel Process, this method produces what is called Honey Coffee.

Honey processing refers to the production process where coffee beans are dried in the sun with their mucilage intact. After removing the outer pulp from coffee beans, a layer of viscous gelatinous substance remains. Traditional washed processing would use clean water to wash this away, but due to water resource limitations in some high-altitude growing regions, this direct sun-drying method was developed. "Honey processed coffee" with lower acidity, increased complexity, and rich sweet aroma has thus become a sought-after commodity in the coffee world in recent years. The honey processing method allows coffee to retain the cleanliness of washed processing. Although the brightness of the coffee may be somewhat reduced, it enhances sweetness and caramel notes.

The advantage of honey processing lies in its ability to best preserve the original sweet flavors of ripe coffee cherries, allowing the coffee to exhibit delicate brown sugar flavors and nut fruit sweetness, while berry flavors can also complement the aroma of red wine. The flavor profile can be described as exceptionally unique. The most distinctive characteristic is an astonishing sweetness. Various types of sweetness such as peach, apple, preserved plum, citrus, and caramel can be enhanced through black honey processing.

High-quality Costa Rican coffee is known as "Strictly Hard Bean" (SHB). This type of coffee can grow at altitudes above 1,500 meters. The significant altitude variation creates abundant rainfall, which is highly beneficial for coffee tree growth. Main varieties include Caturra, Catuai, Geisha, among others.

In summary: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research establishment dedicated to sharing knowledge about coffee with enthusiasts. We share without reservation, hoping to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Every month, we host three coffee promotion events with significant discounts because FrontStreet Coffee wants to enable more friends to enjoy the best coffee at the lowest possible prices. This has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past six years!

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