What does black honey process coffee taste like?

Black honey processed coffee from Costa Rica's West Valley typically shows heavy sweetness, soft fruit acidity, and a long finish. Finca Sumava de Lourdes grows Caturra at 1,700 meters on volcanic soil, harvesting from December to March. Its black honey lots carry notes of black sugar, floral, citrus, pomelo, and sweet spices, with a luscious mouthfeel that suits pour-over brewing.

Honey processing leaves part of the mucilage on the seed during drying, and the darker the honey designation, the more mucilage remains. The extra sugars drive the sweetness found in Caturra lots such as this one, a variety of Coffea arabica. Costa Rica's coffee history reaches back to 1779, and today roughly 32,000 farmers work plots averaging under one hectare, with micro-lots drawing attention from specialty buyers.

Located in Costa Rica's West Valley, Finca Sumava has become a focal point in the specialty coffee world in recent years, thanks to its Cup of Excellence champion-level micro-lots and its unique black honey processing method. Estate owner Francisco Mena employs a sweet juice honey processing technique, allowing the Caturra variety to express rich layers of black sugar, floral notes, citrus, and sweet spices amid volcanic soil and high-altitude temperature swings. Front Street Coffee's Costa Rica Finca Sumava Caturra Black Honey offers prominent sweetness on the palate, soft fruit acidity, and a lingering finish—ideal for pour-over enthusiasts exploring the ultimate sweetness of honey processing. This article provides a complete analysis of this bean's flavor code, from growing region background, estate story, and processing principles to green bean analysis, roasting curve, and brewing recommendations.

How should black honey processed coffee beans be brewed? What are the flavor and mouthfeel characteristics of Costa Rica Finca Sumava's black honey processing?

Costa Rica Sumava de Lourdes black honey

Front Street Coffee Costa Rica Finca Sumava Caturra Black Honey

Region: West Valley

Estate: Finca Sumava de Lourdes

Variety: Caturra

Altitude: 1,700 meters

Processing: Black Honey

Soil: Volcanic

Harvest: December to March of the following year

Flavor Notes: Black sugar, floral, citrus, pomelo, sweet spices, luscious mouthfeel

01 | Growing Region Introduction

Coffee was introduced to Costa Rica as early as 1779, planted from seeds brought from Cuba, and the country did not begin exporting until 1820. Today, there are approximately 32,000 coffee farmers in the country, with an average plot of less than one hectare (10,000 ㎡) per person. In 2006, Costa Rica's population was 4,100,000, with coffee cultivation covering 82,500 hectares and annual production of about 1.7 million bags (60 kg each). Domestic annual consumption was 380,000 bags, with per capita annual consumption of 5.5 kg—even exceeding Japan's 4 kg, while Taiwan region's per capita consumption is only slightly above 1 kg.

Costa Rica was the first country in Central America to cultivate coffee, with a deep historical heritage and a mature coffee industry from production to sales. Situated in the Central American isthmus with volcanoes throughout, the country enjoys abundant sunshine and fertile land. Its climate is regulated by both Pacific and Atlantic ocean currents and sea breezes, giving its coffee the terroir imprint of local microclimates. In both quality and quantity, Costa Rican coffee has consistently earned international recognition and is ranked among the world's high-quality coffees. Numerous towering volcanoes reaching 2,000 meters in altitude allow coffee cherries to grow slowly in fertile volcanic ash soil and cool high-altitude environments, producing coffee beans with complete layers and rich flavors.

Costa Rica has been growing coffee for two hundred years. The earliest cultivation areas were on the slopes of Poas and Barva volcanoes, now known as the Central Valley. After years of development, the country now has eight major growing regions: Guanacastes, West Valley, Central Valley, Turrialba, Orosi, Tres Rios, Tarrazu, and Brunca.

According to ICO statistics, Costa Rica produces approximately 1.6 million bags of Arabica coffee annually. Although its output is less than that of Central American countries such as Guatemala and Honduras, its quality and price are far higher.

Costa Rica has two seasons per year: the dry season from December to April, which is also the coffee harvest period, and the rainy season from May to November. In recent years, micro-processing mills have continued to emerge, using only 5% of the water consumed by traditional washed processing mills and requiring no large tanks or drying yards, greatly lowering the investment threshold. Honey processed coffees—with low acidity, high complexity, and rich sweet aromas—have thus become highly sought after in the coffee world in recent years, and the best among them have shone brightly in major competitions, significantly raising the international profile of their estates.

Finca Sumava

Costa Rica has seven coffee growing regions, among which Tarrazu, Central Valley, and West Valley are the most well-known and of the best quality. Finca Sumava de Lourdes is located in the West Valley growing region, near the city of Naranjo, at an altitude of 1,700 meters. The estate cultivates varieties including Villasarchi and Caturra on a total of 10 hectares, SL28 on 2 hectares, Geisha on 1 hectare, and other varieties. Estate owner Francisco Mena and estate manager Jose Ordonez lead a full-time team. In addition to cultivating diverse coffee varieties, the estate also preserves a large area of forest reserve, providing natural habitat for wildlife—making it a truly outstanding coffee estate in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica's Finca Sumava is a very young estate. After originally working in coffee trading, Francisco Mena bought this land and preserved most of the original forest, developing only a small portion as coffee cultivation area to maintain the estate's natural ecological balance.

Finca Sumava sits at approximately 1,670 to 1,790 meters in altitude, located in Costa Rica's other well-known West Valley growing region. Large temperature swings plus fertile soil make it highly suitable for coffee cultivation.

Estate owner Francisco Mena introduced Villa Sarchi, a Bourbon mutation variety that once placed in the top 13 of the Cup of Excellence. This is a rare variety bred by crossing Red Bourbon; it resists strong winds, prefers high-altitude environments, and possesses excellent acidity and a profusion of fruity notes. It has high sweetness, with bright and delicate citrus acidity alongside deeper raisin and nut aromas, offering high complexity and full balance.

The estate leaves most of its land to forest to maintain the natural environment. In estate management, the team also takes great care: for fallen and decaying wood and weeds, they do not use traditional burning methods but instead chip the wood into fragments, mix them with organic fertilizer, and use them as farm fertilizer. From the El Chayote reserve in the West Valley, with fertile volcanic soil in Pos, convection and moisture facing the Pacific, plus notably low temperature differences between day and night and an excellent microclimate, this small area of just 1 kilometer in radius has remarkably produced 4 champion estates—truly a place that nurtures excellence.

02 | Processing Method

Honey processing is called Honey Process or Miel Process, and the finished product is often called Honey Coffee. It is adopted by coffee estates in Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, and other places. So-called honey processing refers to the process of making green beans that are sun-dried with the mucilage still attached.

Estate owner Mena employs a unique sweet juice honey processing method, which he calls the "sweet sugar process." Specifically, the juice produced during coffee cherry processing is collected and used to soak the parchment beans undergoing processing. Since the cherry juice contains considerable sweetness and unique enzymes, the processed parchment beans carry richer flavors and more complex positive flavor notes.

The harvest season typically runs from January to April each year. Because the estate temperature is only 10 to 20 degrees Celsius, there are still often freshly ripened coffee cherries waiting to be picked in April. Simply put: the more pectin retained in processing, the richer the coffee's final flavor and the higher its sweetness. Below are several honey processing flavor comparisons:

The pectin mucilage layer is the part of the coffee cherry with the highest sugar content and is also a key component of coffee processing fermentation. It could be said that this part determines 80% of the nutrient supply during processing. Yellow Honey retains 60% of the pectin, Red Honey retains 75%, and Black Honey removes almost no pectin.

03 | Green Bean Analysis

Caturra, varietal Caturra, Coffea arabica var. caturra. First discovered in 1937 in São Paulo State, Brazil, it is a natural mutation of Bourbon. It is currently widely cultivated in Brazil, Colombia, and other Central and South American growing regions.

04 | Roasting Analysis

Yangjia 800N, 550g green beans charged, specific operation:

Charge when drum temperature reaches 200°C, set airflow to 3. After 1 minute of steaming, adjust heat to 160°C, airflow unchanged. At 160°C drum temperature, adjust heat once more, dropping to 135°C. Roast until 5 minutes 40 seconds, temperature 154.9°C, bean surface turns yellow, grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration complete, airflow unchanged;

At the 9th minute, the bean surface shows ugly wrinkles and dark streaks, and the toast aroma clearly turns to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this point, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 9 minutes 21 seconds, first crack begins. Reduce heat to 80°C, open airflow fully to 5 (adjust heat very carefully—not so low that cracking sounds disappear), 50°C. Drop the beans at 193.4°C.

Cupping Mouthfeel

Flavor: Dried plum, honey, brown sugar, orange blossom, white chocolate

Mouthfeel: Good sweetness, soft fruit acidity, round and full-bodied, lingering finish

03 | Brewing Analysis

Pour-Over Reference

Using a Key dripper, 16g coffee with 32g water for a 30-second bloom, extract at 89–90°C water temperature, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, medium-fine grind on a Fuji at 3.5. Second pour to 110ml and pause; wait for the water level to drop, then pour slowly at an even speed, keeping the water level from getting too high. Pour again to 233ml and stop. Extraction time 2 minutes 15 seconds, presenting a rich natural-process sweetness. You can fine-tune according to your own taste.

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