Tarrazú SHB Coffee: Region, Pour-Over Settings, and Honey Processing

Tarrazú sits in the mountainous interior of Costa Rica, where high elevation and steady rainfall produce dense beans graded SHB, or Strictly Hard Bean. The cup tends toward clean acidity with notes of red apple, honey, and mild cocoa. While Brazil and Vietnam answer the question of which country produces most coffee, Costa Rica focuses on quality over volume, and Tarrazú remains its most recognized growing region for specialty lots.

Honey processing sets Tarrazú apart from fully washed lots. Leaving part of the mucilage on the bean during drying adds body and sweetness, with yellow, red, and black honey styles representing increasing amounts of retained fruit. For pour-over, use 15 grams to 250 grams of water at 93 degrees Celsius, a medium grind, and a total brew time near three minutes. The honey versions tolerate a slightly coarser grind.

Costa Rican coffee is renowned for its pure sweetness and clear flavors, and Front Street Coffee has long followed the varieties and processing methods of this region. This article will focus on Costa Rica's eight major producing regions, the growing environment and grade characteristics of Tarrazú SHB washed beans, outline their pour-over brewing parameters, and, through a comparison with the blueberry anaerobic heavy honey processed beans from巨石 Estate, explain the differences in flavor expression between washed and honey processing. The article also details the processing flows of white honey, yellow honey, red honey, black honey, and anaerobic techniques, helping coffee enthusiasts understand the classic style and innovative directions of Costa Rican coffee more systematically.

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Let's get straight to the point. If you are a long-time reader of Front Street Coffee, you should already have some understanding of Costa Rica's coffee region divisions.

Those who are familiar with this can skip this paragraph and continue reading; those who are not yet clear may as well review it once more with Front Street. According to the division by ICAFE (Instituto del Café de Costa Rica, Costa Rica Coffee Institute), which Front Street has also introduced before, Costa Rica has eight coffee regions in total: Tarrazú, West Valley, Tres Ríos, Guanacaste, Turrialba, Orosi, Brunca, and Central Valley. It is worth mentioning that these regions have all signed quality improvement agreements, and mill owners promise to accept only ripe cherries, ensuring that only the highest-quality coffee enters processing. Therefore, you will notice an interesting phenomenon: in Costa Rica, what is grown is basically all Arabica coffee.

Among these eight regions, some are distributed in lower-altitude areas, while many are located in volcanic areas above 1,200 meters. The higher the altitude, the more often the coffee has brighter acidity, more concentrated flavors, and more abundant aroma. Every Costa Rican coffee selected by Front Street has an altitude above 1,500 meters. Take Front Street's most affordable daily bean—Costa Rica Tarrazú—as an example; this coffee's growing region is likewise located above 1,500 meters.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee): Costa Rica · Tarrazú Coffee Beans

Variety: Caturra, Catuai

Altitude: 1,500 meters

Processing method: Washed

Grade: SHB

In Costa Rica, rainfall, relative humidity, and temperature usually decrease as altitude increases, and this difference directly affects the bean size, hardness, and flavor direction of coffee beans. After reviewing the materials, Front Street learned that Tarrazú is protected by the barrier of the Pacific slope mountains and is a habitat for forests and rare birds, with an excellent ecological environment very suitable for coffee cultivation. This coffee bean is planted in small valleys and slopes among the country's highest mountain ranges.

Tarrazú is located southeast of the capital San José and produces Arabica coffee with relatively small beans, a bluish color, and a refined appearance. Local land output is about 650,000 quintals, with a planting area of about 22,000 hectares, composed of small farms averaging 2.5 hectares in size. About 95% of the coffee sold is graded Strictly Hard Bean (SHB). These coffees are produced under ideal conditions, the soil is mainly sedimentary, and it is acidic due to its composition. Most plantations use shade cultivation, and a variety of trees are planted in the region.

When choosing daily beans, Front Street almost always favors washed processing. If you drink coffee often, you will know that washed coffee beans have clearer flavors. Because after washed fermentation, most of the pectin on the coffee beans has been washed away, and the terroir characteristics are highlighted and amplified. This is also Front Street's main purpose: to let consumers drink the most classic flavors of the region at the highest cost-effectiveness.

Of course, many friends do not yet have a clear enough understanding of flavor, so they do not quite understand what "the taste of terroir" specifically refers to. Next, Front Street will use Front Street巨石 Estate Blueberry, a Costa Rican anaerobic heavy honey processed coffee, to compare and analyze the flavor differences between honey-processed and washed coffee. Similarly, Front Street will first briefly introduce the region information of巨石 Estate · Blueberry.

巨石 Estate is located in Costa Rica's Brunca coffee region. Brunca sits in southern Costa Rica and consists of the cantons of Coto Brus, Buenos Aires, and Pérez Zeledón. In this area, coffee cultivation began in the late 19th century in Pérez Zeledón, also because the first settlers came from the coffee-growing areas of the Central Valley, bringing with them a deeply rooted Costa Rican coffee culture.

The Coto Brus Valley is located on the slopes of the Talamanca Mountain Range, which divides Costa Rica into Pacific and Atlantic slopes, making the region's economy almost dependent on coffee cultivation. As of now, there are records of 2,600 coffee producers here, involving 75 communities. It is understood that the Coto Brus area has a higher altitude and is also more humid, with temperatures ranging between 18 and 26°C.

Generally speaking, Costa Rica's honey processing methods are standardly divided into several types, called white honey, yellow honey, red honey, and black honey. Next, Front Street will show everyone the different processing methods of these techniques.

White honey: Remove 80-90% of the mucilage Beans are dried directly on raised beds Beans dry quickly at high temperatures, and the parchment turns white

Yellow honey: Remove 50% of the mucilage Beans are dried under low wind and moderate sunlight conditions Beans are raked 3 to 4 times a day, and drying can take up to a week

Red honey: 80-90% of the mucilage remains on the beans Beans are dried on raised beds under cloudy or shaded conditions Beans are raked on the first morning, and afterward only once or twice in the afternoon

Black honey: Keep the mucilage intact as much as possible Beans are dried on fully shaded raised beds Beans are left completely undisturbed on the first day, then raked once a day; drying may take up to three weeks

But none of the above is the processing flow of anaerobic heavy honey processing. The anaerobic process is one of Costa Rica's most innovative processes; it is a semi-industrial characteristic method between washed and natural. Specifically: coffee with the pulp removed but all mucilage retained is placed in sealed tanks,隔绝氧气 to strengthen the controlled fermentation process. After that, it is placed in a greenhouse for about 4 days, then put on drying beds for 18 days. The temperature is above 21 degrees Celsius.

Note: Drying time and temperature depend on different variables (region, temperature, altitude, humidity, season, shade, etc.). Drying beds or greenhouses depend on the producer's own processing concept.

Using the same brewing method, let's look at the different flavor presentations of these two coffees. Next, Front Street will give Front Street's standard service method:

Front Street brewing parameters:

V60 dripper

Water temperature 91℃

Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15

Coffee dose 15g

Grind size (80% passing rate on China No. 20 standard sieve)

Front Street brewing method: Use 30 grams of water for blooming for 30 seconds, pour in a small stream in a circular motion to 125 grams, then split the pour; when the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225 grams and stop pouring; when the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper, (timing starts from the beginning of blooming) extraction time is 2'00".

Relatively speaking, the overall flavor presentation of Tarrazú daily beans is clean and fresh, with round, soft acidity, and a hint of dark chocolate in the cup; it is a primitive and classic Costa Rican flavor coffee. Blueberry, on the other hand, is relatively special, with flavors pointing very clearly to blueberry gummy candy, mint herb, and berry fruit notes, and it tastes very distinctive.

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