Why Do Some Coffee Bean Names Come from Musicians?

Some coffee bean names come from place or estate, but Costa Rica's Carnet Estate names its lots after classical composers. The Musician Series includes Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin. The estate owner loves classical music, and the series is built on the Caturra and Catuai varieties using raisin honey and washed processing, which gives each coffee a different flavor focus.

Carnet Estate sits in central Costa Rica at 1,700 to 1,950 meters, and all its coffee is SHB-grade strictly hard bean with strong sweetness and rich fruit, wine, and tea aromas. The estate is small and run by three brothers who have farmed coffee for over ten years and also operate a small processing plant. In the 2019 harvest they focused on Caturra.

As a crop, coffee is named in many different ways—some are named after their place of origin, some after the estate, but naming them after musicians is particularly distinctive. Front Street Coffee's Musician Series is exactly like this, comprising three coffee beans: Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. These beans come from the Carnet Estate in central Costa Rica. The estate owner loves classical music, so the coffee produced is named after musicians. The estate uses two bean varieties, Caturra and Catuai, combined with raisin honey processing and washed processing, to produce the world-renowned Musician Series coffee. This article will guide you through the origins of this series, its processing characteristics, and a detailed analysis of the flavor differences among the three coffees.

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Coffee is essentially a crop, and coffees from different regions have their own naming methods. Some directly use place names, some use estate names, and there is also a rather interesting practice—naming them after musicians. Front Street Coffee also has coffees named after music, namely Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. Why would they think of naming them after musicians? What differences in flavor do these beans have? Front Street will explain in detail below.

The Carnet Estate in central Costa Rica selects two coffee varieties, Caturra and Catuai, and uses raisin honey processing and washed processing to produce the world-renowned Musician Series coffee beans, named "Beethoven," "Bach," "Chopin," and "Mozart." The estate is located at an altitude between 1,700 and 1,950 meters, and all the coffee produced is SHB-grade high-altitude strictly hard beans, with outstanding sweetness and rich fruit aromas, wine aromas, and tea aromas.

In the 2019 harvest season, the estate focused on the Caturra variety, reinterpreting the charming flavors of the Musician Series.

Carnet Estate is located in Costa Rica. It is small in scale and jointly owned by three brothers. They have been growing coffee for over ten years and also operate a small coffee processing plant. The Musician Series, which has been popular for many years, comes from this estate. Different processing methods are used, and each coffee has its own flavor focus.

The origin of Front Street's Musician Series is that the owner of Carnet Estate loves classical music, so all coffee beans produced by the estate are named after musicians. Carnet Estate is located in the highest-altitude coffee-growing area of Tarrazu, Costa Rica. The estate uses Caturra and Catuai coffee beans for raisin honey processing and washed processing, producing the world-renowned Musician Series, named "Beethoven," "Bach," and "Mozart." The altitude ranges from 1,700 to 1,950 meters, all SHB-grade high-altitude strictly hard beans, with sweet flavors and rich fruit aromas, wine aromas, and tea aromas.

So what exactly are the characteristics of Front Street's Musician Series?

Costa Rica has exceptionally favorable coffee-growing conditions. Poas Volcano (2,708 meters), Barba Volcano (2,906 meters), and Irazu Volcano (3,432 meters) are located in central Costa Rica, bringing abundant minerals, phosphates, sulfides, and other nutrients to the local soil. The slightly acidic soil makes central Costa Rica a world-renowned coffee-producing region, and the Tarrazu region is one of them.

Caturra was the core variety of the 2019 Musician Series.

The flavors of the Musician Series differ each year. Typically, two coffee varieties, Caturra and Catuai, are used, combined with raisin honey processing at different pectin levels or washed processing, to create coffee beans with distinct personalities, which are then named Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, and Mozart.

The latest 2019 batch of the Musician Series all uses Caturra coffee beans. Caturra is a Bourbon mutation, with better disease resistance and yield than the more delicate Bourbon. Its flavor improves with higher altitude, but yield decreases accordingly. The Musician Series can be said to be the ultimate expression of the Caturra variety at high altitude, and it is precisely for this reason that world-famous coffee beans were born.

Front Street Costa Rica Bach (BACH) Coffee Beans

Front Street Bach's music is refined, richly layered, and at the same time clear and well-organized.

This coffee bean, named Bach, has a dry aroma with fruit notes such as strawberry, blackberry, and raisin, and also gives off bursts of fruity aroma during brewing. When just brewed, the floral and fruity aromas are very obvious; on the palate, you can feel a rich fruity aroma and sweet-tartness, with a slight wine aroma in the middle and finish, just like red wine.

As the temperature drops, it presents a candied-fruit-like sweet aroma, the wine aroma becomes more prominent, and you can even sense flavors of plum wine. Every sip feels like being immersed in the splendor and rigor of Baroque aesthetics.

Front Street Costa Rica Beethoven (BEETHOVEN) Coffee Beans

Beethoven himself was a coffee lover. It is said that he would count coffee beans to pass the time, and to brew a cup of coffee he had to count 60 beans. This story is quite interesting. This bean impressed Front Street greatly. The coffee gives off very obvious floral and fruity aromas, with honey-like sweetness, berry tartness, medium body, and full, solid acidity.

The most famous figure in Romantic classical music is Beethoven, and coffee beans that make people think of Beethoven's music naturally have outstanding flavor. The dry aroma has obvious red berry notes, with strawberry the most prominent, along with floral aromas. During brewing, you can sense floral notes, honey-like sweet aroma, and green grape aroma.

Front Street Beethoven coffee has a sweet-tartness of green grapes and red berries on the palate, and is clean and smooth overall.

As the temperature drops, the red berry flavors become more obvious. Some foreign coffee bloggers have even described it as a coffee full of summer romance.

By the way, unlike the raisin honey processing of other Musician Series coffees, Beethoven uses washed processing to present a clean and refreshing summer-like taste.

Music prodigy Mozart (MOZART) Coffee Beans

The last one to introduce is Mozart. Mozart, the prodigy who epitomized classical music, let its splendor shine fully!

Front Street Mozart's gorgeous coffee aroma: it gives off elegant floral notes, similar to white flowers such as orange blossom, which can also be sensed during brewing.

Gorgeous taste: more dark berries, raisins, and a small amount of red berries, with a bit of plum acidity and gummy-bear-like sweetness in the middle and finish. After the temperature drops, it still retains floral and sweet notes.

Unlike before, the previous Mozart coffee beans used the yellow Catuai variety with red honey processing and were known for their exuberant floral aroma. This time, the sweetness of Caturra is used to represent Mozart.

The above is an introduction to the flavors of the three coffees in Front Street's Musician Series. As for which one tastes better, Front Street believes that each one is delicious. Every coffee has its own flavor characteristics, and as long as it is one you like, that is the best-tasting one. Of course, if you have the chance, tasting coffees of different flavors is also a kind of pleasure.

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