What are the steps of Costa Rica Red Honey Processing? What are the main coffee varieties grown at Dawn Manor?

Sweetness: A Coveted Trait in Coffee Cupping

Sweetness, a prized quality in cupping that elevates coffee beans, is also a flavor profile that countless coffee brewers continuously pursue. When discussing which countries' coffee beans often possess excellent sweetness, many people would immediately think of Costa Rica, as farms here excel at using various honey processing methods that bring out elegant, sweet flavor notes in coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Presents: Costa Rica Dawn Estate Red Honey

Today, FrontStreet Coffee brings you a coffee from Costa Rica's Dawn Estate, processed using the red honey method. Join us as we explore the unique character of this so-called "honey processed" sweetness.

Tarrazu Region

Dawn Estate (Café Sol Naciente) is situated in Santa María de Dota, within Costa Rica's Tarrazú coffee region, just 40 kilometers from the capital San José. The most famous specialty here is undoubtedly the coffee that grows in this region.

The estate sits at an altitude of 1,750 meters, spanning approximately 7 hectares—6 hectares dedicated to coffee cultivation, half a hectare as mountain conservation area, and another half for post-harvest coffee processing and drying. FrontStreet Coffee discovered through mapping that the conservation area adjacent to the plantation serves as the starting point of the Los Santos Biological Corridor, connecting to vast national forest reserves. This area not only features three different types of rainforest climates but also provides 14 natural ecosystems for the animals that inhabit here. Running parallel to the Talamanca mountain range, it has become a highly recommended destination for countless hiking enthusiasts.

The Los Santos region is a lush valley formed by three cantons, where nearly every household grows coffee. This is due to its year-round exposure to warm, moist air currents from the Pacific, with annual rainfall reaching 2,400 millimeters and an average temperature of 19°C. These conditions provide an excellent growing environment for coffee trees cultivated at altitudes between 1,500 and 2,100 meters. Dawn Estate is precisely such a paradise surrounded by pristine greenery—walking through the farm, you'll encounter various rare small animals everywhere.

Dawn Estate

In 1990, Arturo Bonilla and his partner Xinia Martínez jointly purchased this land, originally used as pastureland, and began coffee cultivation. Today, the farm is operated by them and their families. To implement meticulous management, they've divided the estate into multiple micro-lots, matching appropriate processing methods to the terroir of each plot,致力于 creating higher-quality, traceable coffee.

In 2015, Arturo and his partner formally established the ecological micro-processing station, naming it "Dawn" (Sol Naciente). The estate's logo consists of three important elements—rising sun, coffee, and nature—each representing their beautiful vision for sustainable development.

Since its inception, founder Don Arturo Bonilla has dedicated himself entirely to specialty coffee cultivation and environmentally friendly ecological agriculture. It's said that in the first year of establishment, a green frog suddenly jumped onto his back. Later, they discovered this frog was actually a local endangered rare species. This delightful surprise not only amazed him but also led the estate owner to consistently prioritize ecological conservation throughout his coffee farming journey.

Currently, the estate primarily cultivates three varieties: Catuaí, Ethíopia 47, and Geisha. Additionally, to increase the farm's varietal diversity, the owner also cultivates numerous experimental varieties. FrontStreet Coffee's current batch of Dawn Estate coffee beans is of the Catuaí variety, processed using the red honey method.

Catuaí

For those who enjoy studying coffee varieties, Catuaí should be quite familiar, as it frequently appears in Central American coffee variety lists. For instance, on FrontStreet Coffee's menu, you can find Catuaí in various selections such as Elida Estate, Panama Pearl Butterfly, Panama Diamond Mountain, and Honduras Sherry.

Catuaí was developed by the Agronomic Institute of Campinas (IAC) in São Paulo, Brazil, through artificial hybridization of Yellow Caturra and Mundo Novo, and was released as a variety in 1972, initially known as "H-2077." Among these, Mundo Novo is the result of natural hybridization between two ancient varieties—Bourbon and Typica—first discovered in 1943 in Titiminiros, São Paulo, Brazil.

As an F2 hybrid, Catuaí not only inherits Caturra's excellent attributes of small plant size, good acidity, and ability to withstand full sun exposure, but also possesses Mundo Novo's characteristics of high yield, strong disease resistance, and excellent cupping performance. Additionally, Catuaí demonstrates good resistance to natural disasters, particularly during heavy rain or strong wind conditions.

Furthermore, due to its compact plant size, Catuaí can be planted at twice the density of other varieties, making pest and disease management more convenient. Because Catuaí exhibits outstanding performance in disease resistance, pest resistance, yield, and growing environment, it quickly attracted many Central and South American countries to introduce and cultivate it shortly after its release.

Red Honey Processing

In freshly picked coffee cherries, mucilage is a very sweet substance—not only high in water and sugar content but also tightly connected to the inner seeds (coffee beans). When coffee cherries undergo honey processing, different levels of mucilage retention result in different colors during drying, and consequently, the naming of these processing methods varies accordingly.

Red honey processing involves sun-drying coffee cherries while retaining 50-80% of their mucilage, thus placing it exactly between washed and natural processing methods. It's also the most common honey color type on the market. The darker the bean color, the fewer times it needs to be manually turned. Black honey, closest to natural processing, typically requires turning only once a day. Red honey needs several turns per day, while yellow honey requires hourly turning. Coffee beans processed using the red honey method typically require about 12 days to fully dry.

FrontStreet Coffee observed that red honey processed green beans are lighter in color than black honey before roasting, with a faint fermented fruit aroma. After roasting and cupping, one can often perceive richly layered fruit aromas and a clean aftertaste. Besides the prominent sweetness, it also combines bright acidity and a light fermented wine-like quality.

To preserve the fresh, honey-like notes of this Dawn Estate red honey processed Catuaí while highlighting the caramelized compounds in the coffee, FrontStreet Coffee employed a medium-light roast and immediately conducted cupping to taste it.

FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rica · Dawn Estate Red Honey Catuaí
Region: Tarrazu, Costa Rica
Estate: Dawn Estate
Altitude: 1,750 meters
Processing: Red Honey
Variety: Catuaí

Flavor Profile: Sweet orange, cream, grapefruit, honey, black tea

In terms of dry aroma, this Dawn Estate honey-processed Catuaí immediately releases distinct sweet orange, preserved fruit, and cream-like aromas after grinding, accompanied by pink floral notes, hazelnut, and a hint of fermentation. The aroma is rich and dense, creating a very pleasant sensory experience. As hot water strikes, the coffee transforms into honey and toffee-like sweet aromas.

Through slurping, FrontStreet Coffee perceived diverse layered fruit flavors in the coffee. At high temperatures, it first presented notes of red floral, grape, prune, and apricot. As the temperature slightly decreased, the fruit acidity became bright and refreshing, with citrus-like aromas dominating the palate, accompanied by subtle black tea notes. The overall mouthfeel is clear with a sweet aftertaste.

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