The Characteristics and Stories of Hacienda Carnet Musician Series Coffee Beans: Is Mozart Coffee the Best Flavor?

The Origin of Costa Rica Musician Series Coffee Bean Names

Sipping coffee while listening to music is a fine way to live. You set out to enjoy famous music, and you can also drink coffee named after famous musicians - an experience all its own.

FrontStreet Coffee has noted before that coffee naming varies widely: some coffees are named for regions or estates, others for varieties. But coffee named for musicians? The Musician Series began because the owner of Carnet Estate is passionate about classical music, so every bean the estate produces is named after a musician. Carnet Estate sits in the highest coffee-growing area of Tarrazu, Costa Rica, and mainly produces two varieties - Caturra and Catuai - using raisin honey processing and washed methods to create the world-renowned Musician Series, sold as "FrontStreet Coffee Beethoven," "FrontStreet Coffee Bach," "FrontStreet Coffee Chopin," and "FrontStreet Coffee Mozart." Grown between 1,700-1,950 meters, these are all SHB-grade high-altitude strictly hard beans, with sweet flavors and rich fruit aroma, wine fragrance, and tea notes.

The Origin of Musician Series Coffee

Let us start with where the Musician Series comes from. It originates in the town of San Marcos in the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica. Tarrazu lies in a volcanic area at around 2,000 meters, with fertile volcanic ash soil and a cool, high-altitude climate that produces beans with rich flavor, bright quality acidity, and a clean, clear texture. Tarrazu has distinct rainy and dry seasons: the rainy season runs from May to November (7 months), coinciding with the coffee tree's growing period, while the dry season runs from December to April of the following year (5 months). The local cherry harvest spans November to March of the following year, lasting 5 months and aligning perfectly with the dry season. These distinct wet and dry seasons give ideal growing conditions and cherries of consistent ripeness.

Carnet Estate—The Home of Musician Series Coffee

Carnet Estate is a small 5-hectare farm in the town of San Marcos in Tarrazu. Tarrazu is Costa Rica's main coffee-producing area and one of the world's major coffee regions, with extremely fertile, well-drained soil and excellent climate conditions, which built its fame within Costa Rican coffee. Carnet Estate occupies the highest coffee-growing area of Tarrazu. It is owned by the Robles brothers - Leo, Elian, and Melvin - who have farmed and produced together for over 10 years and share a small wet processing mill (Beneficio). The owner mainly grows passion fruit, so coffee production is quite limited: only a specific area is planted to coffee, cared for specially, and harvested only when the cherries are fully ripe. That careful selection is what gives the estate's beans their high sweetness and lasting sweet flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee's Musician Series includes FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Mozart and FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Bach, both processed with raisin honey.

Musician Series Coffee Bean Processing—Raisin Honey Processing

It is often said that, besides the regional climate, processing is the most direct factor affecting coffee flavor. Beans from Carnet Estate mainly use honey processing, and raisin honey processing is a form of double-fermentation honey processing, for which fully ripe cherries are a prerequisite. Raisin honey retains 100% of the mucilage and uses a zero-water method, which raises the difficulty and demands strict time control. On harvest day, the cherries are poured into large water tanks, where mature, full cherries sink and underdeveloped or overripe ones float and are removed. The selected cherries are dried on raised beds for at least three days, then the skin is removed while the mucilage is kept, before further drying.

Drying first and removing the skin afterward lets the coffee develop more intense fermentation flavors. Compared with other honey processes, raisin honey keeps 100% of the mucilage for drying, which significantly enhances sweetness.

The Musician Series—Bach

This FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Bach consists of the two most common varieties in Central and South America: Caturra and Catuai. The raw beans smell of fermented fruit and look dark green; grown at around 1,950M, they have a relatively hard texture. From the 2019 harvest season, they carry a relatively higher moisture content. The roast follows a profile of gradual temperature reduction with extended dehydration time. Because this "FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Musician Bach" uses raisin honey processing, the roast is designed as medium to highlight the bean's fermentation aroma and fruit notes while keeping the balanced, full-bodied quality of a honey-processed bean.

The Musician Series—Mozart

Mozart, the child prodigy who embodied classical brilliance - magnificent indeed. Magnificent aroma: elegant floral notes similar to the white flower fragrance of orange blossom, present during brewing too. Magnificent taste: rich dark berries, raisins, and subtle red berries, with hints of plum acidity and a gummy-bear sweetness in the middle and late stages. The florals and sweetness persist even as the cup cools. Unlike earlier versions, the former FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Mozart used the Yellow Catuai variety with red honey processing, known for its exuberant floral aroma. This time, the decision was to use Caturra's sweetness to represent Mozart instead.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

For brewing, FrontStreet Coffee suggests using freshly roasted beans to enjoy the full flavor of the coffee. FrontStreet Coffee ships all beans within 5 days of roasting because it understands how much freshness affects flavor. Its roasting philosophy is "freshly roasted good coffee," so every customer receives the freshest coffee on delivery. The degassing period is around 4-7 days, which means the coffee is at its peak flavor when customers receive it.

Some customers need FrontStreet Coffee to grind the beans for them, which is fine too. FrontStreet Coffee reminds them, however, that pre-ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly. Ground coffee does not need further degassing, because the pressure from carbon dioxide buildup in the packaging during transport also rounds out the flavor, so you can brew a cup immediately on receipt.

Coffee powder does oxidize relatively quickly when exposed to air, though, so its flavor dissipates faster and the coffee tastes less good. FrontStreet Coffee therefore suggests buying whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better experience the coffee's flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee uses a Hario V60 dripper when brewing the Musician Series. The V60's wide opening and unique spiral ribs let air escape more easily and improve extraction quality. The body may be less full, but its high concentration, which brings out sweet-and-sour notes with distinct aroma, is its main characteristic.

Dripper: Hario V60, Water Temperature: 90°C, Coffee Amount: 15g, Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15, Grind Size: Medium-fine grind (80% pass-through rate on a China standard #20 sieve)

Use segmented extraction, blooming with 2 times the coffee weight in water (30g water for 30 seconds). Blooming is necessary to let the grounds release internal carbon dioxide, which keeps later extraction more stable. With a small stream, pour in a circular motion to 125g, then continue to 225g and stop. Once the water has finished dripping through the filter, remove the dripper. Time from the start of pouring: 2'00". Then pick up the whole cup, shake it evenly, and pour it into a cup for tasting.

Brewing Flavors

FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Bach brewing flavor: a rice-wine fermentation aroma on the nose, ripe tropical fruit with berry sweet-and-sour on the palate, nutty and creamy notes, and a caramel aftertaste with a subtle floral finish.

FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Mozart brewing flavor: rich black grape aroma, with raisins and sweet orange on the palate. As the temperature changes, the fermented wine aroma and osmanthus fragrance become more noticeable.

These two FrontStreet Coffee Musician Series coffees each have their own character and both taste wonderful. As for which is better, FrontStreet Coffee believes it depends entirely on personal preference, since every palate differs. Of course, FrontStreet Coffee suggests trying both, because different flavors bring different pleasures.

Connect With Us

FrontStreet Coffee is a Guangzhou-based coffee research house and roastery dedicated to sharing coffee knowledge with enthusiasts, from origin and processing to roasting and brewing. For more specialty coffee beans and brewing guidance, look for FrontStreet Coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Carnet Estate's honey processing is what gives the Musician Series its sweetness, and FrontStreet Coffee's honey-processed Costa Rican range is the easiest way to explore the style. FrontStreet's Mozart comes from the estate's raisin honey process, which keeps 100% of the mucilage and uses a zero-water method, drying the cherries on raised beds for at least three days before the skin is removed. Roasted medium-light, it shows rich kyoho-grape and raisin sweetness with pineapple and osmanthus aromas, and stays soft and juicy in the cup.

For a darker-honey contrast, FrontStreet's Costa Rica Blackberry uses a black honey process that removes almost none of the mucilage and dries for at least two weeks under cover, turned at intervals so the sugar converts evenly and the fruit does not over-ferment. Roasted medium-light, it opens with dense floral perfume and cups with grape, berry, and ripe blackberry notes.

If you like the honey-plus-Geisha combination, FrontStreet's Strawberry Candy pairs a washed Panamanian Geisha with a Costa Rican honey-processed coffee, keeping Geisha's orange-blossom honey character while adding raisin, dried blueberry, and a soft fruit acidity with an almond finish.