What Is Notable About Costa Rica Fuego Phoenix Coffee?

Costa Rica's Central Valley, at 1,200 to 1,600 meters, combines volcanic soil and a mild microclimate to produce hard beans with bright acidity and full body. Finca Phoenix, on a volcano slope, was among the first estates in Central and South America to work with honey and natural processing, and its Black Rose lot is known for pronounced sweetness.

The estate uses a refractometer to time harvest precisely and applies natural fertilizer and pruning to build bean hardness. Its 2009 specialty competition result brought wider attention. For anyone asking where do costa coffee beans come from, origin details like region, altitude, and processing explain much of the cup.

Costa Rica, with its fertile coasts on the east and west sides and high-altitude volcanic soil, produces high-quality coffee with a mild flavor, bright acidity, and rich body. Its Central Valley production region, at an altitude of 1,200 to 1,600 meters, combines a microclimate with the fertile soil of two volcanoes to create coffee with hard beans and full aroma. As one of the earliest producers in Central and South America to practice honey processing and natural processing, Finca Phoenix uses a refractometer to precisely control harvest timing and has cultivated the astonishingly sweet Black Rose lot. This article will provide an in-depth introduction to the estate's environmental philosophy, the SHB super hard bean standard, and the unique processing method of Black Rose, along with Front Street Coffee's pour-over recommendation.

Costa Rica has the Caribbean Sea on its east side and the Pacific Ocean on its west side, and its name in Spanish means "Rich Coast."

Coffee beans produced in the country's high-altitude regions enjoy a global reputation.

These coffees have a smooth taste, prominent acidity, rich aroma, and quite excellent body, making them highly popular.

Central Valley

Central Valley is one of Costa Rica's eight major production regions, with an altitude between 1,200 and 1,600 meters. It has a superior microclimate, and combined with the fertile soil brought by two volcanoes, this gives the region's coffee beans outstanding quality.

With moderate rainfall, an average annual temperature of about 19°C, and a relatively high altitude, the coffee beans here are hard in texture, full of aroma, smooth on the palate, bright in acidity, plump in body, and rich in fragrance.

Finca Phoenix

Finca Phoenix is located on the slope of a volcano and is one of the earliest estates in Central and South America to begin producing honey-processed and natural coffees. Not only is the soil here fertile, but the estate owner also places great importance on environmentally friendly processing concepts. Through natural fertilizer management and pruning techniques, the coffee beans themselves possess high hardness and rich complexity.

The most prominent characteristic of Finca Phoenix coffee beans is their astonishing sweetness, which brought the estate fame when it competed in a specialty coffee competition in 2009. During the harvest season, the estate uses a Brix meter, commonly seen in the wine industry, to measure the sugar content of the fruit, and determines the optimal harvest timing and processing method based on the Brix sugar content. Only fruit with a sweetness above 20% is used for natural processing. For reference, the Brix value of common fruits is 14 for apples, 12 for lemons, and 18 for passion fruit, while Finca Phoenix's coffee cherries can reach 21% to 22%.

Finca Phoenix also has another major Costa Rican characteristic: 95% of its beans are SHB (super hard bean), the highest quality grade used locally for evaluating green coffee. SHB coffee usually has plump beans, a clean flavor, bright acidity, and quite ideal viscosity. Its powerful flavor leaves a finish that lingers in the throat for a long time and is unforgettable. At the same time, the growing environment above 1,500 meters also makes this "Black Rose" stand out.

Black Rose is quite time-consuming to process. First, the harvested fruit is placed on raised beds for direct sun drying, and then moved into a plastic greenhouse for slow drying. During this period, a large amount of natural sweetness develops from inside the green beans. Unlike conventional natural processing, the fruit is not turned multiple times during drying, which makes the fruity flavor more pronounced.

The Finca Phoenix series mainly comes from Cumbres del Poas, an estate located on the slope of a volcano. Not only is the soil here fertile, but the estate owner also cares for the environment in meticulous detail. Although it has not obtained organic certification, it is confirmed to use natural farming methods. In addition, through techniques such as natural fertilizer control and pruning, the coffee beans themselves possess high hardness and rich complexity. Deep natural processing means that after the coffee fruit undergoes initial drying, it is moved indoors for slow fermentation control, resulting in a rich vinous fermented flavor with a lively red-wine-like texture. The estate places great emphasis on environmentally friendly processing concepts and uses vermiculture (worm composting) to produce organic compost, so that the cultivation process uses no chemical fertilizers or pesticides at all. (ref)

Black Rose is a special natural product that uses a unique processing method, undergoing drying and fermentation in a high-temperature environment. After fermenting under such varying temperature conditions, Black Rose presents a rich and intense natural profile.

Costa Rica Finca Phoenix · Black Rose

Coffee region: Central Valley

Annual rainfall: 3,000 mm

Coffee variety: Caturra, Catuai

Average annual temperature: about 20°C

Processing method: Natural process

Growing altitude: 1,300 m–1,500 m

Soil type: Volcanic soil

Harvest method: Manual harvesting

When Front Street Coffee recommends brewing this Finca Phoenix Black Rose as a pour-over, it is suggested to use a medium-fine grind, control the water temperature at 90 to 92°C, and use a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15 to highlight its astonishing sweetness and red-wine-like fermented aroma.

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