Where Do Costa Coffee Beans Come From and How Do They Taste?

Costa Rican coffee is known for a honey-like sweetness, and the country's specialty lots come mainly from the Tarrazú region south of San José, along with the Central Valley and seven other producing areas. Harvest runs from November to March, and volcanic soil plus high altitude give the beans chocolate notes, bright fruit acidity, and an elegant aroma.

Tarrazú and estates such as Mirazu are the reference points for the country's sweet, layered profile. Processing matters too: the raisin honey method leaves fruit mucilage on the coffee green bean during drying, which builds the sweetness and body. Grind, water temperature, and pour-over timing then decide how much of that sweetness actually reaches the cup.

Costa Rican coffee has captured the hearts of many coffee lovers with its honey-like sweetness. In this article, Front Street Coffee takes you deep into Costa Rica's core producing regions and the distribution of its eight major coffee origins, with a key analysis of the Tarrazu region and its representative estate, Mirazu. It also details the unique features of the raisin honey process, as well as the variety composition, green bean analysis, roasting curve, cupping performance, and pour-over brewing parameters of Front Street Costa Rica Strawberry Candy Geisha Blend coffee beans, helping you fully master this Costa Rican coffee with outstanding sweetness and rich flavor layers.

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Costa Rican coffee, with its honey-like sweetness, is something many veteran coffee lovers can never forget. Guests often come to FrontStreet Coffee and ask the barista whether there is a pour-over coffee with sweetness, and at that point Front Street's baristas will bring out Costa Rican coffee beans one by one to introduce them. Why does Costa Rican coffee show a honey-sweet character? In this article, Front Street will talk with you about Front Street Costa Rican coffee beans.

Costa Rican Producing Regions Costa Rica is located in Central America and was the first country in Central America where coffee was introduced and planted, with a very long history. The local volcanic soil is very fertile and has excellent drainage, especially in the Central Plateau, at an altitude of 1,200-1,600 meters, with the harvest season from November to March, covering three sub-regions: San José, Heredia, and Alajuela. There are three high-altitude volcanoes in the region: Irazu, Barva, and Poas, which provide abundant nutrients for the surrounding coffee. The superior microclimate, combined with the fertile soil of two volcanoes, gives the beans of this region outstanding characteristics, such as chocolate cocoa flavor, bright fruit acidity, and elegant aroma.

Costa Rica has eight major coffee producing regions in total: Valle Central Occidental, Valle Central, Tarrazu, Tres Rios, Orosi, Brunca, and Turrialba. Most of Costa Rica's specialty coffee comes from the Tarrazu region.

Tarrazu is located south of the country's capital, San José, and is one of the most valued coffee-growing areas in the country. The coffee of "La Minita Tarrazu" is a local specialty, but production is limited, at about 72,600 kilograms per year. It is grown on a piece of land called "La Minita," owned by the British McAlpine family for the last three generations, with the LaMinita estate in the Tarrazu region producing only 160,000 pounds annually. In fact, this land can produce more than 450 tons of coffee each year. However, La Minita Tarrazu coffee is grown without artificial fertilizers or insecticides, and its harvesting and sorting are done entirely by hand, to avoid the damage to coffee beans caused to some extent by air-jet sorting methods.

Costa Rican coffee has always been known for balanced flavor, rich chocolate notes, and a smooth mouthfeel. Tarrazu is located south of the capital, San Jose, and is one of Costa Rica's most valued coffee-growing areas. Front Street believes that Tarrazu coffee beans are full-bodied, with a rich body, smooth mouthfeel, rich chocolate and nut aromas, moderate acidity, and an enticing fragrance. A representative Costa Rican coffee — Front Street Costa Rica Mirazu Estate Geisha Blend coffee beans.

Country: Costa Rica Estate: Mirazu Estate Altitude: 1700m Processing method: Raisin honey process Varieties: Geisha, ET47, SL28, MAICO

Costa Rica Mirazu Estate Mirazu Estate is a very small estate, and the entire estate is managed by Esteban and his family. Esteban Sanches was originally a member of the neighboring Little Candle Estate family, but because of his persistence with coffee beans, he independently established an estate, Mirazu. The small wet-processing machine at the processing station was designed and assembled by Sanches himself.

In the coffee farm, Sanches said that the quality of coffee starts with the trees themselves. Although machines can separate the good from the bad, if the quality grown is all good, there is no need for machines to distinguish superior and inferior beans. He also said that God gave us a beautiful environment, and we care for the coffee beans with love. This is giving back and sharing. Thanks to everyone's help, he was able to complete his dream, and he is also willing to share his own experience and results with other farmers, so that everyone's coffee dreams can come true. Coffee Bean Varieties

The Front Street Costa Rica Strawberry Candy Geisha Blend purchased this time by FrontStreet Coffee is composed of 50% Geisha coffee beans and 50% ET47, SL28, and MAICO mixed together. These are all grown on the same estate and then blended as single-origin coffee beans.

It is worth mentioning that among the ET47 and SL28 varieties, ET47 is a native variety from Ethiopia. In the 1990s, the Costa Rican Coffee Institute introduced many of them as research trees for leaf rust resistance and gave them to farmers in the Tarrazu region to plant. The original goal of selecting and breeding SL28 was to hope to mass-produce coffee beans with both high quality and resistance to pests and diseases, while in some producing regions the main breeding goal was high yield, without considering disease resistance. Thanks to its Bourbon genes, although SL28's yield later fell short of expectations, its bronze leaf color and broad-bean-shaped beans have excellent sweetness, balance, and complex, varied flavors, as well as notable citrus and smoked plum characteristics.

This Front Street Costa Rica Strawberry Candy bean is a Geisha blend. Is it still considered a single-origin coffee bean? Front Street believes the answer is definitely yes. All the coffee varieties in this Front Street Costa Rica Strawberry Candy coffee bean come from Mirazu Estate and belong to the same single origin, so it is a single-origin coffee bean. Why do we say this? Front Street will give an example: Ethiopian coffee varieties are numerous and complex, and the local coffee trees are basically planted mixed together and then harvested mixed together, which is also why Ethiopian coffee beans vary in size. As long as the coffee beans are grown within the same producing region, whether a single variety or mixed varieties, they all belong to single-origin coffee beans. Coffee beans like those from Ethiopia are equivalent to natural blending, while this Front Street Costa Rica Strawberry Candy Geisha Blend is equivalent to post-blending.

Coffee Bean Processing Method

The raisin honey process retains 100% pectin and uses a zero-water method. It increases the difficulty of the honey processing method, which requires strict control of timing. On the day the coffee cherries are harvested, the harvested coffee fruit is poured into a large water tank. Ripe, full fruits sink to the bottom; underdeveloped or overripe fruits float to 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, then the cherry skin is removed, the pectin is retained, and then drying continues.

At this stage, climate factors are the key to the success of honey processing. During the drying process, these coffee cherries must be turned constantly to ensure even drying, but the frequency of turning must be controlled well. Drying must be slow to ensure the coffee undergoes fermentation, but not so slow that over-fermentation occurs. Front Street believes that this very sweet raisin honey processing method can give the coffee a white wine-like mouthfeel and balanced acidity, with a relatively rich fermented aroma.

FrontStreet Coffee Green Bean Analysis

This batch of Front Street Costa Rica Mirazu Strawberry Candy Geisha coffee purchased by FrontStreet Coffee is composed of 50% Geisha coffee beans and ET47, SL28, and MAICO mixed together. The Geisha variety coffee beans provide this coffee with jasmine aroma, while the other varieties give this coffee richer strawberry and berry flavors. Through the raisin honey process, the sweetness of this coffee is enhanced. In order to highlight the floral aroma and fermented sweetness of this Front Street Strawberry Candy coffee bean, Front Street's roaster used a medium-light roast for this Front Street Costa Rica Geisha Blend coffee bean.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Suggestions Roaster Yangjia 800N semi-direct fire, roasting amount 300g.

Preheat the roaster to 200°C, lower to 175°C for charging, adjust the gas to 120, open the damper to 3, turning point at 1'32", maintain the gas; at 114°C keep the gas unchanged and open the damper to 4. At 6'15" it turns yellow, the grassy smell disappears, and it enters the dehydration stage. At 140°C lower the gas to 100 and keep the damper at 4. At 9'00" dehydration is complete, the bean surface shows wrinkles and dark streaks, and the toast smell turns into coffee aroma, which is the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 10'25" first crack begins, open the damper fully to 5, and keep the gas unchanged. After first crack, develop for 1'30" and drop at 193.5°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Cupping Report FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after the sample coffee beans are roasted. The cupping bowls generally used by FrontStreet Coffee's baristas are 200ml ceramic bowls, marked with 150ml and 200ml scale lines. According to SCAA standards, the TDS of the water is about 150ppm. Too low a TDS easily causes over-extraction, while too high a TDS affects the mouthfeel and easily causes under-extraction. The water temperature used for cupping is 94°C. According to SCAA cupping standards, the grinding degree is controlled so that the passing rate through a No. 20 standard sieve (0.85 mm) is 70%-75%. Ratio: 11 grams of coffee powder plus 200 milliliters of hot water, that is, 1:18.18, so that the extracted concentration is just within the golden cup range of 1.15%-1.35%. Steeping time: 4 minutes.

Dry aroma: dried fruit, berries Wet aroma: floral, berries Flavor: raisin, berries, nuts, creamy mouthfeel

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Suggestions and Insights Water temperature: 90-91°C

Grind size: EK43s setting 10 (caster sugar size)

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Dose: 15 grams *Regarding grind size, Front Street determines it through sieving. Based on the grinding recommendations provided by the Specialty Coffee Association of America SCA for pour-over coffee, and combined with actual operational verification, Front Street uses different grind sizes for brewing, and the resulting cups all show obvious differences. Moreover, the grind size for each coffee bean will differ somewhat. This is the significance of sieving. If you do not have a sieve at home, FrontStreet Coffee suggests judging by observing the flow rate: if the flow is too fast, the grind is coarse; if the flow is too slow, the grind is fine.

Front Street brewing method: In the first stage, pour 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour 95 grams (the electronic scale shows about 125 grams), finishing the pour in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, pour the remaining 100 grams (the electronic scale shows about 225 grams), finishing the pour in about 1 minute 40 seconds. Dripping is completed at 1'55''-2'00'', remove the dripper, and extraction is complete.

Brewed flavor: jasmine aroma, with strawberry and raisin flavors on the palate, a finish of strawberry candy and nuts, and a creamy mouthfeel.

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