Costa Rica Specialty Coffee Shumava Estate Natural Process SHB Strictly Hard Bean Gourmet Coffee Roasting

Product Information

Product Name: FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Premium Coffee Shumava Estate Natural Process SHB Strictly Hard Bean

Country: Costa Rica

Grade: SHB Strictly Hard Bean

Region: Western Valley, Orange County

Altitude: 1670-1790 meters

Processing Method: Natural

Variety: Villa Sarchi

Producer: Shumava Estate

Flavor Profile: Honey apple, dried berries, yellow fruit notes

Costa Rica Coffee Overview

Set on the Central American isthmus, Costa Rica benefits from climate regulation by Pacific and Atlantic currents and sea breezes. With many towering volcanoes rising to 2000 meters, coffee cherries can ripen slowly in fertile volcanic ash soil and cool high-altitude conditions, developing beans with complete, rich flavors.

Coffee cultivation in Costa Rica began two hundred years ago, with the earliest plantings on the slopes of Poas and Barva volcanoes - what is today the Central Valley region. After years of development, Costa Rica now has eight major producing regions: Guanacastes, West Valley, Central Valley, Turrialba, Orosi, Tres Rios, Tarrazu, and Brunca.

According to ICO statistics, Costa Rica produces approximately 1.6 million bags of Arabica coffee each year. Although that is less than other Central American countries such as Guatemala and Honduras, its quality and price are significantly higher.

Climate and Processing Innovations

Costa Rica has two seasons: a dry season from December to April, which coincides with the coffee harvest, and a rainy season from May to November. In recent years, micro-mills have appeared one after another. Since their water consumption is only 5% of what traditional wet mills require, and they need no large washing tanks or drying patios, the investment needed is relatively small. Honey-processed coffee - lower in acidity, more complex, and rich in sweet aroma - has become a competitive target in the coffee industry in recent years, and the standout examples have shone in major competitions, greatly raising the international reputation of the estates behind them.

Shumava Estate

Shumava Estate in Costa Rica is a very young estate. Francisco Mena, originally in the coffee trading business, acquired the land and preserved most of the original forest, developing only a small portion as coffee-growing area to maintain the estate's natural ecological balance.

Shumava Estate sits at roughly 1670-1790 meters altitude in another renowned Costa Rican producing region, the Western Valley. The wide temperature swings, combined with fertile soil, make it extremely well suited to coffee cultivation.

Estate owner Francisco Mena introduced the high-quality Villa Sarchi variety, which ranked in the top 13 at the Cup of Excellence. It is a precious variety developed through cross-breeding with Red Bourbon trees. It resists strong winds, prefers high-altitude environments, and carries excellent acidity along with varied, complex fruit aromas. It has high sweetness, bright and delicate citrus acidity, and deeper raisin and nut aromas, offering considerable complexity and excellent balance.

Most of the estate is left to forest to preserve the natural environment. Estate management has been handled with equal care - for broken wood, rotten wood, and weeds, traditional burning is not used. Instead, the wood is crushed into fragments and mixed with organic fertilizer for use on the farm.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Natural processing is the thread that runs through this Costa Rican coffee, and it is the oldest way to handle coffee: ripe cherries are dried in the sun until they reach the right moisture level, then hulled. Because the fruit stays intact through drying, the resulting cup has more body and more readily develops rich, ripe-fruit character. If that style appeals to you, FrontStreet Coffee's Huakui is a natural-process standout. Grown in Gugi Hambela in Ethiopia at altitudes reaching 2300 meters, it gets plenty of time to ripen and build complex aromatics, and the natural process lifts its sweetness further. Roasted light-medium, it keeps its elegant floral and fruit notes while caramelizing just enough, so the cup shows a light fermented aroma, florals, citrus, and mango, with honeyed sweetness, a cocoa edge, and a touch of spice over a full body and a long finish.

For a brighter, juicier take on the same approach, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry is another natural-process coffee worth trying. Only fully ripe red cherries are selected, spread out on raised drying beds away from the ground, and turned at regular intervals so they dry evenly. Roasted light-medium, it keeps the elegant florals and bright acidity of Yirgacheffe while adding clear tropical-fruit flavor and a full, fermented sweetness - the same qualities that make this Shumava Estate lot so appealing.