What does Costa Coffee history tell us about Tarrazu beans?

Front Street Costa Rica Canet Musician Series Bach is a Caturra bean from the Canet Estate in Tarrazu at 1,950 meters, processed with the raisin honey method. It carries a rice wine fermentation aroma, ripe tropical fruit and berry sweetness, nutty and cocoa notes, a caramel aftertaste, and a faint floral finish. Costa Rican coffee growing began about two hundred years ago on the slopes of the Poas and Barva volcanoes.

The country's wet and dry seasons shape the harvest: December to April is dry, matching the coffee harvest, while May to November is rainy. Recent micro-processing plants use only 5% of the water of traditional washed mills and need no large tanks or drying yards, which helped honey-processed coffee with lower acidity and fuller sweet aroma spread. The Bach bean reflects that Tarrazu style.

Front Street Costa Rica Canet Musician Series Bach comes from Canet Estate in the Tarrazu region at an altitude of 1,950 meters, using raisin honey processing, with Caturra as the variety. This bean is known for its distinctive rice wine fermentation aroma, with the sweetness and acidity of ripe tropical fruits and berries on entry, intertwined nutty, cocoa, and creamy flavors, a caramel aftertaste, and a faint floral note in the finish. This article will guide you through the regional background of Costa Rican coffee, the cultivation and processing details of Canet Estate, the characteristics of the Caturra variety, and include Front Street's roasting analysis and pour-over brewing suggestions, fully presenting the complete flavor profile of this Musician Series Bach.

▲

Click to follow | Focus on coffee roasting 5 th anniversary

For more specialty coffee beans, please add

private WeChat Front Street , WeChat ID:

( long press to copy )

qiannjie

Costa Rica Canet Musician Bach

Front Street Costa Rica Canet Musician Series Bach

Country: Costa Rica

Region: Tarrazu

Altitude: 1,950M

Processing method: Raisin honey processing

Grade: SHB

Variety: Caturra

Costa Rica is located in the Central American isthmus. The ocean currents and sea breezes of the Pacific and Atlantic together regulate the local climate, and several volcanoes reaching 2,000 meters in altitude stand within the country. Coffee cherries mature slowly in the fertile volcanic ash soil and cool high-altitude conditions, thus accumulating coffee beans with complete layers and full flavor.

Costa Rica's year can be divided into two seasons. From December to April of the following year is the dry season, which coincides with the coffee harvest period; from May to November is the humid rainy season. In recent years, many micro-processing plants have emerged locally. This type of processing plant uses only 5% of the water consumed by traditional washed processing plants, and does not require large tanks or drying yards, so the initial investment is relatively low. As a result, honey-processed coffee with lower acidity, greater complexity, and full sweet aroma has become an object eagerly pursued by the coffee world in recent years.

The history of coffee cultivation in Costa Rica can be traced back two hundred years, initially on the slopes of the Poas and Barva volcanoes, which is now the Central Valley. At present, the country is divided into eight main producing regions: West Valley, Central Valley, Tarrazu, Tres Rios, Orosi, Brunca, Turrialba, and Guanacaste.

Tarrazu is precisely one of the most important coffee producing areas among them. This region also has a long history of coffee cultivation, once gaining the favor and recognition of the British royal family, and was even mentioned and praised in a pope's speech.

| Canet Canet Estate

Canet Estate is located in the highest-altitude area of the Tarrazu region, and is also the area with the most concentrated fruit cultivation in Costa Rica. The estate mainly grows passion fruit, and coffee production is extremely limited, with only specific plots designated for coffee cultivation and given especially meticulous management. All coffee cherries are hand-picked, selecting only ripe red fruits. After picking is completed and before entering the processing stage, they must go through another screening process to remove underripe or overripe beans once again.

Processing method

| Raisin honey processing method

This processing method retains 100% mucilage and uses zero water throughout, which increases the difficulty of honey processing and requires extremely precise control of timing. On the day of harvest, the coffee fruits are poured into a large water tank; plump, ripe fruits sink to the bottom, while underdeveloped or overripe fruits float on the surface, and these floating beans need to be removed. The selected coffee fruits are placed on raised beds to dry for at least three days, after which the cherry skin is removed and the mucilage is retained for continued drying. At this stage, climatic conditions are often the core factor determining the success or failure of honey processing.

During drying, the coffee cherries must be constantly turned to ensure even drying, but the frequency of turning must be handled properly—drying needs to proceed slowly so that the coffee can develop the flavors brought by fermentation processing, yet not so slowly that it over-ferments.

Green bean analysis

| Caturra Caturra

Caturra is quite common among American beans, especially widespread in Central America.

Caturra originated as a mutation of Bourbon and was discovered in Brazil in 1937. Its yield and disease resistance are both superior to Bourbon. The tree is shorter, making picking easier, and it has strong adaptability, requiring no shade trees; it can grow vigorously even when directly exposed to the sun, hence the common name Sun Coffee. Caturra is suitable for planting from low altitudes of 700 meters to high altitudes of 1700 meters, with a very wide altitude adaptation range. However, the higher the altitude, the better the flavor, and the yield declines accordingly—this is precisely the fate of specialty beans.

The green beans appear yellow-green, the typical appearance of honey-processed coffee beans, and smell of fresh citrus fruit aroma as well as a slight fermented fruity note.

Roasting analysis

Roasting machine Yangjia 800N semi-direct fire (roasting amount 300g)

Preheat the roaster to 200°C and charge, adjust the heat to 160, open the air damper to 3, the turning point is 1'36", maintain the heat; at 140°C keep the heat at 160, open the air damper to 4. At 4'50" the beans turn yellow, the grassy smell disappears, and the dehydration stage begins. At 166°C lower the heat to 135 and keep the air damper at 4.

At 8'05" dehydration is complete, wrinkles and dark patches appear on the bean surface, the toast aroma turns into coffee fragrance, which is the prelude to first crack; at this time pay attention to listen for the sound of first crack. At 8'38" first crack begins, open the air damper fully to 5, and keep the heat unchanged. The development time after first crack is 1'45", and the beans are dropped at 193.8°C.

Cupping: rose floral aroma, berries, cream, cocoa, caramel, fermentation aroma, tropical fruit

Brewing suggestions

Recommended brewing method: pour-over

Parameters : V60/1:15/90℃/ Grind size BG 5R (Chinese standard 20 mesh sieve passing rate 58% ) / Brewing time 2 minutes

Technique: 30 grams of water for blooming for 30 seconds, slowly pour water at the center to 125 grams in stages, and when the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, pour with a slightly stronger stream until 225 grams, then end the brew.

[Front Street Costa Rica Bach] Flavor: smells like the fermentation aroma of rice wine, tastes of the sweet and sour sensation of ripe tropical fruits and berries, with nutty, cocoa, and creamy flavors, a caramel aftertaste, and a faint floral note in the finish.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.