Development History of Costa Rica Honey Processing, Honey Processing Method, and Introduction to Mirasu Manor's Strawberry Candy

The Evolution of Coffee Processing Methods

The coffee industry keeps evolving, and new processing methods keep appearing—anaerobic fermentation, double anaerobic natural, enzyme washing, wine-yeast fermentation, and more. Still, the three traditional methods remain the most common.

Those three are: the natural sun-dried method, the traditional fully washed method, and the hybrid process that sits between them (including semi-washed and honey process). Nowadays methods grow ever more varied, as international buyers and green merchants demand more diversity in quality, flavor, and uniqueness. Cherries picked from the same tree will show different flavor characteristics under different processes—even minor changes in a step or a small shift in fermentation time can change the cup.

Honey Process: A Hybrid Processing Method

Honey process falls between natural and washed. By degree, it subdivides into white honey, yellow honey, red honey, and black honey, with the newest addition being raisin honey processing.

Washed — White Honey — Yellow Honey — Red Honey — Black Honey — Natural

Costa Rica: The Birthplace of Honey Processing

Any talk of honey processing must begin with Costa Rica, its birthplace—indeed, Costa Rica's geography is what gave birth to it. The country's growing regions concentrate in the Talamanca mountain range at 1,200–1,650 meters. Rainfall is plentiful, but water storage in the high mountains is difficult, making the water-hungry washed method hard to sustain. Yet they also lack the long, reliable sunshine of African countries, so pure natural processing carried heavy risks. The solution came from Brazil's pulped natural method—remove the cherry skin, wash briefly, and spread the beans out to dry. Coffee countries across Central America—Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala—noticed that this method consumed less water and needed less sun, so they emulated it and adapted it to local conditions, calling the result "honey process."

The Improved Honey Processing Method

In the improved method, the cherry's skin and part of its mucilage are removed with a pulping machine set for high precision, controlling exactly how much mucilage remains; the beans then go straight onto raised drying beds with zero water contact. The black/red/yellow/white subdivisions correspond to the color of the dried parchment, which reflects the mucilage retained.

Red honey retains about 80% of the mucilage and sun-dries for 12 days, yielding reddish-brown parchment. Yellow honey retains 40–60% and dries about 8 days; the thinner mucilage layer gives a yellowish-brown color. White honey retains 40% with an even shorter drying time and paler parchment. Black honey retains nearly all the mucilage and dries more than 14 days—shaded to slow the drying so the sugars fully develop, and turned regularly to prevent uneven heating and over-fermentation—producing parchment that trends nearly black. It's the most labor-intensive of the family.

Raisin Honey Processing: The Latest Innovation

The latest innovation is raisin honey processing. FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy from Costa Rica's Mirasu estate uses it. Raisin honey keeps 100% of the mucilage with zero water treatment, which raises the difficulty above even black honey and demands strict time control: after harvest, the cherries are poured into large water tanks, where buoyancy separates underdeveloped floaters from the mature beans that sink; the floaters are discarded. The sorted fruit then dries on raised beds for at least three days before the skin is removed with the mucilage preserved, and drying continues with constant turning for even drying and slow fermentation until the beans reach about 11% moisture.

The Mirasu estate Strawberry Candy comes from the Tarrazú region and blends 50% Geisha with Ethiopian heirloom variety ET47, SL28, and MAICO. Brewed on a V60 at 1:15, it opens with strawberry and raisin, carries candy and nut notes through the finish, and wraps it all in a creamy, honeyed texture.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Honey process as we know it descends from Brazil's pulped natural (semi-washed): remove the skin, then dry—shortening the drying period while taming the off-flavors of improper fermentation. FrontStreet Coffee's Cerrado is a classic Brazilian semi-washed with clear cream, peanut, nut, and chocolate notes. Brazil's success caught Costa Rica's eye, and by tuning mucilage retention and drying time, Costa Rica refined the method into the honey process family—and subdivided it into black, red, yellow, and white honey.

Beyond Strawberry Candy, two more honey-processed stars are worth your shelf. The FrontStreet Costa Rica Blackberry uses black honey—almost no mucilage removed, dried at least two weeks under cover so the sugars convert fully, turned constantly to avoid over-fermentation. Roasted light-medium, its grounds smell of fresh flowers, and the cup carries grape, berry, and ripe blackberry. The FrontStreet Costa Rica Mozart uses the innovative raisin honey method—cherries pre-dried on raised beds for at least three days before hulling, with 100% of the mucilage retained, a process even trickier than black honey. It brings an especially rich dried-fruit sweetness, and whether you pour-over, cold brew, or moka-pot it, you'll find osmanthus, pineapple, and raisin in the cup.