Costa Rica Monster Estate Coffee Beans Anaerobic Natural Coffee Beans Brewing Cinnamon Flavor Characteristics

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December, a Christmas season filled with anticipation, warmth, and mixed emotions, enjoying the aroma of cinnamon-flavored coffee while listening to Christmas melodies and reading warm books in the cozy FrontStreet Coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee - Costa Rica Monster Manor · Cinnamon

Region: San Ramón, Western Valley, Costa Rica

Estate: Monster Manor

Processing Method: Anaerobic Natural

Varieties: Caturra, Catuai

Altitude: 1300m

Western Valley · San Ramón Region

San Ramón is a sub-region within the Western Valley coffee region of Costa Rica. The West Valley region of Costa Rica, with elevations ranging from 1,000 to 1,200 meters, is a coffee region with a relatively long harvest season of approximately five months, from November to March. The West Valley region of Costa Rica experiences distinct wet and dry seasons. When the coffee harvest season begins, it enters the dry season.

Due to the influence of more Pacific air currents, the Western Valley often has cooler temperatures than other regions at higher altitudes. The annual average relative humidity reaches as high as 81%, with abundant rainfall and an average annual temperature of 21.5°C, which promotes vigorous crop growth in this region and is conducive to cultivating high-altitude premium coffee.

There are nearly 10 farmers' cooperative processing societies in the San Ramón region. 2018 was destined to be an extraordinary year for small farmers in San Ramón. After 14 years of effort, their coffee finally made it to Costa Rica's stage. In that year's competition, the emerging anaerobic natural processing method helped them leap to the fourth place in the Cup of Excellence (COE). This was also the first time that COE judges in Costa Rica evaluated coffee beans processed with the anaerobic natural method. However, their glory did not end there. At the 2020 World Barista Championship (WBC) in Amsterdam, Mr. Mathieu from Switzerland chose this magical cinnamon-flavored coffee sourced by FrontStreet Coffee, helping him secure third place.

Monster Manor

La Minilla

La Minilla Monster Manor is located in San Ramón, Santiago de Costa Rica, and the estate has over a hundred years of history. The estate owner's family originally lived in Heredia in the central valley of Costa Rica. Due to the eruption of the Poás volcano, the entire family migrated to San Ramón in the western valley to start a new life. The estate is situated at elevations between 1100m to 1350m in the San Ramón area of the western valley, surrounded by mountains with fertile land, making it very suitable for coffee cultivation.

Coffee Varieties

Caturra & Catuai

This coffee bean sourced by FrontStreet Coffee uses the most common Caturra and Catuai varieties in Central America. Caturra is a natural variant of Bourbon, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is not as tall as Bourbon, but rather more compact. Due to its Bourbon heritage, it has relatively weak disease resistance, but its yield is higher than Bourbon.

Catuai is a coffee variety artificially hybridized from Caturra and Mundo Novo. Catuai has good resistance to natural disasters, particularly wind and rain. The Catuai plant is relatively low-growing. Compared to other coffee trees, Catuai's fruits grow more firmly and are not easy to pick. The fruits come in both red and yellow varieties.

Anaerobic Natural Processing

Anaerobic Natural

Anaerobic fermentation is actually a fermentation method in a low-oxygen or oxygen-free environment, typically using pressure-resistant stainless steel tanks where temperature, time, pH value, and other data needed to control fermentation can be managed.

Anaerobic natural processing includes two stages: anaerobic fermentation and natural drying. Simply put, the estate owner manually selects fully ripe coffee cherries, then pulps the selected cherries and places them in stainless steel barrels where oxygen is extracted, allowing the fruits to undergo slow fermentation.

During the fermentation process, pH value is an important reference indicator. Changes in temperature and pH must be strictly controlled. When the sugars in the pectin and mucilage are just completely consumed, the container is immediately opened to stop fermentation, and the beans are promptly dried under sunlight to avoid over-fermentation. FrontStreet Coffee believes that coffee beans processed with the anaerobic natural method have rich acidity while presenting round, full coffee flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster uses a Yangjia 800N (roasting capacity 480g): Preheat the roaster to 175°C, set heat to 130, and air damper to 3. Return temperature at 1'36". When the roaster temperature reaches 113°C, open the air damper to 4, keeping the heat unchanged. When the roaster temperature reaches 152.5°C, the bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, entering the dehydration stage, and the heat is reduced to 110.

At 9'00", ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, and the toasted bread aroma clearly transitions to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 10'12", first crack begins, open the air damper to 5, develop for 1'45" after first crack, and drop at 196.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report

FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping of samples 8 hours after each roasting batch, using 200ml standard cupping bowls, with a grind size that has a 70%-75% pass rate through a #20 standard sieve. Coffee amount: 11.1g. Water TDS is 120ppm, water temperature is 94°C. First grind and smell the dry aroma, then add water to fill the bowl. Confirm the wet aroma, break the crust and remove grounds after 4 minutes, and begin flavor evaluation.

Dry Aroma: Cinnamon

Wet Aroma: Cinnamon, Caramel

Flavor: Grape, Cherry, Gingerbread, Cinnamon, Caramel, Honey

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Tips

Coffee Amount: 15g

Grind Size: Medium-fine (80% pass rate through #20 standard sieve)

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Water Temperature: 90°C

Dripper: V60 #01

FrontStreet Coffee's segmented brewing method: 1. First pour 30g of water and let it bloom for 30 seconds. 2. After blooming, inject the second pour of water, pouring 125g in circular motions from the center outward. After pouring, wait for the water level to drop to half. 3. When the coffee bed is about to be exposed, inject the third pour of 100g water, for a total pour of 225g. Wait for the coffee to finish filtering, then remove the dripper. The total brewing time for this session is 2 minutes and 5 seconds.

Brewing Flavor: The sweet and sour notes of grapes in the front section, with aromas of cinnamon and gingerbread, sweetness of caramel, cherry juice in the middle section, and a honey-like aftertaste.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on WeChat: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473