How Does Raisin Honey Processing Shape This Coffee?

The Costa Rica Musician Series Bach comes from Finca Canet in Tarrazu, grown at 1,900 meters from the Yellow Caturra variety and processed with the raisin honey method. The result is a solid red wine fermentation character, with ripe grape notes running from dry aroma to finish, plus rose floral and berry juice in the mid-palate.

Finca Canet covers only 5 hectares near San Marcos and is run by the three Robles brothers; besides coffee trees, passion fruit is the farm's main crop. The Bach lot comes from the highest coffee plot. Roasting curves, cupping reports and staged brewing parameters are shared so drinkers can follow the coffee aroma from first sip to finish.

Front Street Coffee presents the Costa Rica Musician Series Bach coffee beans, from Finca Canet in the Tarrazu region, using raisin honey processing and the Yellow Caturra variety, at an altitude of 1900 meters. This bean is known for its rich and solid red wine fermentation character, with ripe grape fermentation notes from dry aroma to finish, rose floral and berry juice notes emerging in the mid-palate, steady and solemn yet with a gorgeous touch. This article details its regional background, processing method, variety characteristics, and shares Front Street's roasting curve, cupping report, and staged brewing parameters, taking you to experience this "Air on the G String in your mouth."

There is a story: Bach had not yet become famous, but his talent was already evident. Before a certain performance, a mishap occurred—only one G string remained usable on his violin, and with no time to fix it, he improvised a piece called "Air on the G String." Over the following hundred years, with its simple and elegant melody and the uniquely rich, full tone of the G string, this piece became beloved by countless violinists and music lovers.

When the Costa Rica Musician Series was released, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) was cupping and brewing a bean called "Bach," and everyone was amazed by its full, layered, and direct flavor expression. From dry aroma to wet aroma, from the first sip to the finish, the fermentation notes of ripe grapes ran throughout, making this bean appear especially steady and solemn, while the rose floral and berry juice notes that emerged added a touch of magnificence. Just like "Air on the G String"—the melody is solemn and long, with a profound yet lyrical mood.

Front Street Coffee: Costa Rica · Musician Series Bach Coffee Beans

Region: Costa Rica, Tarrazu

Farm: Finca Canet

Processing: Raisin Honey

Variety: Yellow Caturra

Altitude: 1900m

Canet Musician Series Bach

Canet Musician Series Bach

Finca Canet is small, only 5 hectares, located in the town of San Marcos in the Tarrazu region, owned jointly by the three Robles brothers Leo, Elian, and Melvin. This area is also the most densely fruit-planted region in Costa Rica, and besides coffee trees, the farm's main crop is passion fruit. The Bach coffee beans Front Street purchased come from the highest-altitude coffee plot on the farm.

If what moves people most about "Air on the G String" is the purity, poetry, and sanctity of its melody, then what is most captivating about this Costa Rica Bach coffee bean from Front Street is its rich, solid, red-wine-like fermentation flavor.

Once the coffee beans are ground, grape-like acidity and fermentation notes rush out first; after brewing, a red-wine-like fermentation aroma fills the entire coffee shop. On the palate, the mouth is filled with a wine-like fermentation sensation, followed by the sweet-tartness of red berries and rose floral notes, and finally finishing with a caramel-like aftertaste, drawing a sacred rest at the end of this "Air on the G String in your mouth."

Coffee Bean Variety

Catuai Amarillo

Yellow Catuai was bred from a cross between Mundo Novo and Caturra, first successfully cultivated in 1949 by Brazil's Instituto Agronomico de Campinas. Like Red Catuai, Yellow Catuai has extremely strong disease resistance and is suited to high-altitude, windy regions. Both also possess delicate and clean acidity.

Raisin Honey Processing

Raisin Honey

This processing method retains 100% of the mucilage with zero washing throughout, greatly increasing the difficulty of honey processing and demanding extremely precise timing. On the day of harvest, the coffee cherries are poured into a large water tank; full, ripe cherries sink to the bottom, while underdeveloped or overripe ones float on the surface—these floating beans must be removed.

The sorted coffee cherries are placed on raised beds to dry for at least three days, after which the outer skin is removed and the mucilage is retained for continued drying. At this stage, the climate is the key to success or failure in honey processing. During drying, the cherries must be turned constantly to ensure evenness, but the frequency of turning must be just right—drying needs to proceed slowly to ensure sufficient fermentation, yet not so slowly that fermentation goes too far.

Front Street Strawberry Candy Gesha Blend and Front Street Mozart also use raisin honey processing. After medium-light roasting, they retain the captivating floral aroma while highlighting the high sweetness of fruits like raisins, ripe pineapple, jackfruit, and sweet orange. They are suitable for pour-over and French press extraction, and also work well for making all kinds of iced coffee.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Roasting Notes

Front Street's roaster used a Yangjia 800N semi-direct fire, with a batch size of 300g. The drum was preheated to 200°C for charging, the gas was set to 160, the damper opened to 3, the turning point was at 1'36", and the gas was maintained; at 140°C the gas was kept at 160 and the damper opened to 4. At 4'50" the beans turned yellow, the grassy note dissipated, and the dehydration phase began; at 166°C the gas was reduced to 135 and the damper kept at 4.

At 8'05" dehydration was complete, the bean surface showed wrinkles and dark patches, and the toasty note shifted to coffee aroma, signaling that first crack was approaching—at this point, listen for the sound of first crack. At 8'38" first crack began, the damper was fully opened to 5, and the gas remained unchanged. After first crack, development continued for 1'45" until dropping at 193.8°C.

Front Street Coffee Cupping Report

Dry Aroma: Fermented fruit

Wet Aroma: Rose, fermentation

Flavor: Fermented ripe fruit, berries, rose, caramel

Front Street Coffee Brewing Suggestions

Dripper: Hario 01

Dose: 15g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Water temperature: 90°C

Grind size: Medium-fine (81% passing through China standard No. 20 sieve)

Front Street Coffee staged extraction method: First use 30g of water to fully wet the coffee bed into a "hamburger" shape, bloom for 30s, then proceed to the second pour. For the second pour, Front Street uses a steady medium-fine stream in a circular motion, pouring to 125g at 55s on the timer, then waiting for the water level to drop to 2/3 of the coffee bed before starting the third pour. For the third pour, Front Street continues circular pouring until reaching 225g and stops, then waits for all the coffee liquid to finish dripping to end extraction, with a total time of 1 minute 50 seconds.

Front Street Costa Rica Bach coffee bean brewing flavor: At high temperature, it is grape-like sweet-tartness and wine-like fermentation; as the temperature gradually drops, it shifts to red berry juice and rose floral notes; the finish is a caramel-like sweet aroma.

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