Costa Rican Tarrazú Coffee Beans: Flavor Profile, Taste Characteristics, Growing Region, and Variety Introduction

An Introduction to Costa Rican Coffee

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American coffee beans are known for their balanced flavors, and Costa Rican coffee is particularly stable and well-rounded. It lacks the sharpness of Guatemalan coffee, the fresh brightness of Ethiopian coffee, and the pine and herbal notes of Indonesian coffee. Instead, it offers a remarkably smooth and gentle taste with harmonious acidity, sweetness, and chocolate bitterness—making it extremely balanced and representative of classic premium coffee. For friends who dislike acidity or bitterness, Costa Rican coffee is also an excellent choice!

FrontStreet Coffee offers several single-origin Costa Rican coffee beans, and the Costa Rican Tarrazú coffee is one of FrontStreet Coffee's house blends, representing the characteristic coffee flavor of Costa Rica's producing regions.

Costa Rican Coffee Growing Environment

In 1729, coffee was introduced to Costa Rica from Cuba. Today, its coffee industry is one of the best-organized in the world, with yields reaching up to 1,700 kilograms per hectare. With a population of only 3.5 million people, Costa Rica has more than 400 million coffee trees, and coffee exports account for 25% of the country's total export value. Most coffee-growing regions are situated at altitudes above 1,500 meters, as high altitude increases coffee bean acidity, slows coffee tree growth, and enhances flavor concentration. Similar to Panamanian Geisha coffee, the harsher the environment and the higher the altitude, the better the coffee flavor.

Costa Rican Coffee Growing Regions

Each growing region has different altitude levels, climate conditions, and soil characteristics, resulting in distinct coffee flavors. That's why FrontStreet Coffee has sourced several single-origin coffee beans from Costa Rica. Among these, the highest-altitude Tarrazú region is also the most famous, and FrontStreet Coffee's house blend—Costa Rican Tarrazú coffee—comes from this region.

Costa Rica has eight main coffee-growing regions: Brunca, Turrialba, Tres Ríos, Orosi, Tarrazú, Valle Central (Central Valley), Valle Occidental (Western Valley), and Guanacaste.

Tarrazú is extremely renowned in the specialty coffee world and is one of the world's major coffee-producing areas. In the 2014 Cup of Excellence competition, 17 out of 23 winning coffees came from the Tarrazú region. Located in the fertile volcanic region of Central America, Tarrazú boasts a humid climate, fertile volcanic soil, abundant annual rainfall, high altitude, and dense natural forest shade—providing ideal growing conditions for coffee. No pesticides or artificial fertilizers are used during cultivation. Nearly 95% of coffee beans produced in Tarrazú's highlands are classified as Strictly Hard Bean (SHB), typically grown at altitudes above 1,500 meters.

Costa Rican Coffee Varieties

The exceptional flavor of Costa Rican coffee is closely related to its varieties. As everyone knows, Arabica varieties often appear as specialty single-origin coffees and taste better than Robusta. The main coffee varieties in Costa Rica include Bourbon, Caturra, Catuai, Villalobos, and others.

Bourbon

Bourbon is a variety that evolved from early Typica after being introduced to Yemen, with the bean shape changing from slender and pointed to round. It wasn't until 1715, when the French transported the round beans from Yemen's Mocha to Bourbon Island (renamed Réunion Island after the French Revolution) that it was named Bourbon. Subsequently, the round Bourbon beans spread to Brazil and Central and South America in 1727, and in 1732, Britain also transported Yemen Mocha to St. Helena Island (later where Napoleon was exiled). Bourbon has also been a consistent champion in American specialty coffee cuppings.

Caturra

Caturra is a natural mutation of the Arabica Bourbon variety, discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its plant is not as tall as Bourbon but rather more compact. While inheriting Bourbon's lineage, it has relatively weak disease resistance but higher yields than Bourbon. Although discovered in Brazil, Caturra is not well-suited for growing there, so it wasn't widely cultivated in Brazil. Instead, it became popular in Central and South American countries such as Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.

Catuai

Catuai is a hybrid of Mundo Novo and Caturra, essentially a second-generation hybrid. It inherits Caturra's advantage of short plant height while also addressing Caturra's weakness of fragile fruit that easily falls off. The fruit is firm and doesn't drop easily in strong winds. The biggest drawback is that its overall flavor is slightly less complex than Caturra. Catuai also comes in red and yellow fruit varieties, with the red fruit generally offering better flavor than the yellow.

Costa Rican Coffee Processing Methods

When it comes to Costa Rican coffee, most people probably first think of honey processing and the various sweet fruity flavors brought by this processing method. However, to experience the most original aroma of high-quality Costa Rican coffee, FrontStreet Coffee believes there's no better place to start than with washed processing.

According to records, Costa Rica first introduced washed processing in 1830; by 1905, the region already had nearly 200 washing stations. Washed processing makes coffee quality more controllable while also improving it. The washed process removes the coffee cherry's skin and pulp, ferments the mucilage layer in water tanks, and then sun-dries it. Natural processing, by contrast, preserves the entire fruit for sun-drying before removing the skin, pulp, and mucilage. Compared to natural processing, washed coffee has lower defect rates, allowing Costa Rican coffee quality to maintain exceptional standards at the time.

Washed Processing Steps

1. Harvesting. After picking ripe coffee cherries, initial screening removes impurities, defective beans, and floaters. This stage is identical to natural processing.

2. Pulping. Fresh cherries are sent through a pulping machine to remove the skin and pulp. Unripe cherries, whose pulp doesn't separate easily, are screened out at this stage. After pulping, what remains are the mucilage, parchment, and seeds.

3. Fermentation to remove mucilage. The pulped seeds, still covered with mucilage, are transferred to fermentation tanks. Although called "washed processing," the mucilage isn't actually washed away but rather removed through biological decomposition during fermentation. The fermentation process takes about 16-36 hours, during which the beans must be stirred frequently to accelerate mucilage separation from the seeds. Washed fermentation produces acidic substances like citric acid, malic acid, and acetic acid. These acids penetrate the green beans, making washed coffee more acidic than natural processing. After fermentation is complete, the actual washing occurs—the beans are washed again.

4. Drying. After washing, the beans need to be sun-dried or machine-dried to reduce moisture content to 12%. Since the pulp has been removed, the drying process doesn't face the same mold concerns as natural processing. The dried parchment beans aren't as hard as natural-processed beans that still contain pulp and skin, so they can be hulled using a hulling machine to obtain green beans.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that compared to the clean and subtle character of washed processing, honey-processed coffee offers higher sweetness, greater sugar content, and relatively fuller body.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

For coffee brewing, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using freshly roasted coffee beans to fully experience the rich flavors of coffee. All coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are roasted within 5 days, because FrontStreet Coffee deeply understands that coffee bean freshness greatly affects flavor. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "Freshly Roasted Quality Coffee," ensuring that every customer receives the freshest coffee when their order arrives. The coffee resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive their coffee, it's at peak flavor.

Of course, some customers need FrontStreet Coffee to grind the beans for them, which is perfectly fine. However, FrontStreet Coffee must remind you: pre-ground coffee beans don't need a resting period, because during transportation, the pressure from carbon dioxide buildup in the packaging also helps mellow the coffee flavor, so you can brew a cup immediately upon receiving the ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly, as it oxidizes quickly when exposed to air, meaning the coffee flavor will dissipate more rapidly and won't be as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends purchasing whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better enjoy the coffee's flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican Tarrazú Brewing Parameters:

Tarrazú coffee green beans have a blue-green color, characteristic of Strictly Hard Bean (SHB). The beans are round but not large, with slightly uniform size. Using fully washed processing and Costa Rican Caturra variety, FrontStreet Coffee employs light-medium roasting to highlight its refreshing and clean taste.

Dripper: V60, Water Temperature: 90°C, Dose: 15g, Ratio: 1:15, Grind: Medium-fine (75% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve)

Costa Rican Tarrazú Coffee Flavor: Sweet orange, nuts, toffee

FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican Mirasou, Mozart, and Bahia Brewing Parameters:

Dripper: Hario V60, Water Temperature: 90°C, Dose: 15g, Ratio: 1:15, Grind: Medium-fine (80% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee Mirasou Geisha Coffee Flavor: Strawberry, peach, cinnamon, jasmine

FrontStreet Coffee Bahia Coffee Flavor: Fermented wine notes, berries, fruit tea tones

FrontStreet Coffee Mozart Coffee Flavor: Raisin acidity, berries, floral notes, fermented wine aroma

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473