Costa Rica Little Candle Estate Honey Process Coffee Flavor Musician Series Mozart H1 Bean Variety Introduction

Costa Rica is renowned for its enchanting national parks, rainforests, beaches, volcanoes, and delicious coffee. A sip of Costa Rican coffee will immerse you in its exquisite flavor. Coffee began to grow in Costa Rica sometime in the 1700s due to ideal growing conditions, including fertile soil, high altitude, cool climate, and fresh water. There are 8 coffee regions: Central Valley, Tres Rios, Turrialba, Brunca, Guanacaste, Tarrazu, Orosi, and West Valley—each with distinct coffee flavor profiles.

Costa Rica has also become a world leader in coffee production traceability and sustainability. Of the country's 50,000 coffee farmers, 90% are smallholders, and today, many send their cherries to boutique micromills, which often process cherries according to the producer's specifications to maintain single-batch or single-farm quality.

The Rise of Micromills

The rise of micromill processing is itself a relatively new development. Before the early 2000s, it was common for small producers to deliver cherries to cooperative-owned mills. With the development of the lucrative specialty market, more farmers began establishing mills on their own farms, allowing them better control over processing and greater certainty of the "traceability story" so important to the growing niche market. Mills with excess capacity would offer services to neighboring farmers, providing a range of processing methods for small batches and comprehensive traceability for roasters and importers. This system enables small and medium-sized coffee farmers in Costa Rica to offer a wide range of differentiated products.

FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican Selections

FrontStreet Coffee has sourced COE26 Geisha coffee beans from Costa Rica's Central Valley region. This coffee undergoes honey processing to enhance its sweetness. FrontStreet Coffee uses a medium-light roast, resulting in medium-high acidity with citrus, lemon, and berry notes, white floral aromas, milk chocolate, and medium almond nut flavors.

This coffee is honey processed, where you remove the cherry skin and leave the mucilage inside while the beans dry. The mucilage is particularly sweet and sticky, making the beans flavorful. There are several different honey processes—white, yellow, red, golden, and black—which simply means some have more mucilage and some have less. White and yellow coffees have less mucilage, while red, golden, and black coffees have more, resulting in a fuller body. The red honey coffee is processed in more shade to slow down drying time. Because the mucilage remains on the beans for an extended period, sugar is absorbed into the coffee beans. The beans dry on raised beds for 18-24 days.

In addition, FrontStreet Coffee has also purchased coffee beans from the Musician series, where the Mozart variety differs from the other two varieties as it is H1.

H1 Centroamericano: A Promising Hybrid

H1 Centroamericano was created by hybridizing Sarchimor T-5296 with the wild Rum Sudan variety. According to Ally Coffee, "It is reproduced through a tissue culture cloning process called somatic embryogenesis." This hybrid variety offers high yield, rust resistance, and a complex and deep flavor profile. They are less susceptible to stressful environments and hold promise for future hybrids. F1 hybrids have a bright future and can help alleviate environmental pressures on farmers.

Important Notice :

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