Flavor Characteristics of Finca Rivense del Chirripó Black Honey Process Geisha Coffee Beans from Costa Rica's Brunca Region

Café Rivense del Chirripó

Café Rivense del Chirripó is located in the Brunca region of southern Costa Rica, at an altitude of approximately 1,550 meters, facing the country's highest peak, the Chirripó mountain range.

In 2005, Régulo Gerardo Ureña Chacón and his wife Isabel Rojas purchased this 8-hectare farm to begin growing coffee. When they tended to the coffee trees in the morning, they could see the magnificent scenery of the Chirripó mountain range, which is why they named it Café Rivense del Chirripó.

This coffee micro-region is located between Costa Rica's two highest peaks: Cerro de la Muerte (highest altitude 3,491 meters) and Chirripó Mountain (highest altitude 3,820 meters). The valley between these mountains creates a unique microclimate that is extremely suitable for coffee cultivation.

During the early days of operating Café Rivense del Chirripó, the Ureña Rojas family faced many problems in coffee cultivation due to the harsh environment and lack of experience. Later, through continuous experimentation by the couple and years of dedicated effort, they finally achieved 5th place in the Cup of Excellence (COE) in 2019. Today, Café Rivense del Chirripó helps surrounding farmers process their green coffee beans and sells them to overseas coffee markets. They also continuously encourage coffee farmers to join in the production of high-quality specialty coffee.

Café Rivense del Chirripó has always been committed to environmental protection. From coffee tree cultivation to processing green beans, they use sustainable management systems to minimize their carbon footprint: they provide appropriate doses of organic fertilizers according to different soil compositions to ensure coffee trees receive proper nutrition while avoiding excessive chemical influences; all water resources on the farm are protected, and they plant some fruit trees to provide shade for the coffee trees while offering food to surrounding wildlife. In such a green environment, the quality of coffee cherries is also better guaranteed.

Black Honey Processing

All coffee cherries at Café Rivense del Chirripó are dried using natural or semi-natural methods, which results in coffee with very high sweetness and also saves significant water resources.

The Ureña Rojas family harvests coffee cherries when they are at their peak ripeness, ensuring the highest sugar content in the coffee fruit. They remove the coffee skin and pulp in a dry environment, which ensures that the mucilage layer remains completely intact. The parchment beans with the entire mucilage layer are placed on drying beds for sun-drying for 12-15 days. Since the mucilage layer is thickest, drying requires time, and the temperature cannot be too high to ensure even drying and thorough sugar conversion. Therefore, Café Rivense del Chirripó needs to strictly control every step: drying, hulling, classification, packaging, and export, to ensure the traceability of coffee batches.

FrontStreet Coffee: Café Rivense del Chirripó Black Honey Geisha Coffee Beans

Origin: Costa Rica, Brunca Region

Farm: Café Rivense del Chirripó

Variety: Geisha

Altitude: 1,550m

Processing: Black Honey Processing

Flavor Notes: Dried Fruit, Honey, Fermented Fruits, Cherry

The black honey processed Geisha coffee beans that FrontStreet Coffee acquired feature predominantly fruity characteristics. To preserve more of the fermented sweetness, FrontStreet Coffee's roaster uses a medium-light roast. Through cupping, the dry aroma presents rich fermented notes of dried fruits and berries. The flavor showcases high sweetness of citrus, cherry, and cantaloupe, with soft acidity and a full-bodied texture.

Brewing Reference

This black honey processed Geisha belongs to Costa Rica's high-altitude SHB (Strictly Hard Bean) category. To extract the rich fruity layers of the coffee, FrontStreet Coffee suggests using higher water temperature and a finer grind size. The harder the coffee bean texture, the finer the grind needed to increase the extraction surface area, thereby improving extraction rate.

Dripper: V60

Water Temperature: 90-91°C

Coffee Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: Fine sugar size (sieved to 78% through #20 sieve)

Three-Stage Extraction: Pour coffee grounds into the V60 dripper, wet the coffee bed with twice the amount of water as the coffee grounds, and bloom for 30 seconds. Then, using a small water stream, pour in concentric circles from inside to out until reaching 125g, then pause. Wait until the coffee bed drops to half the dripper's level, then continue with the same fine water stream for the third pour to 225g. Remove the dripper once all coffee liquid has filtered through, with a total time of approximately 2 minutes (allowing for 10 seconds variance).

Through pour-over brewing, FrontStreet Coffee discovered that this black honey processed Geisha coffee has rich fermented aromas of cantaloupe and tropical fruits, balanced acidity of berries and cherries, and a more pronounced fruit tea aftertaste as the temperature decreases, with overall full sweet and sour flavors.

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Important Notice :

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Tel:020 38364473