Flavor characteristics, producing areas and brewing parameters of single bean of Costa Rican coffee

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Costa Rican Coffee Single Bean Flavor Characteristics, Region and Brewing Parameters

Coffee farmers will sort coffee, some will retain less pectin layer, which allows faster exposure, others will retain more pectin layer, which requires longer exposure. Yellow honey (approximately 25% pectin layer retained) must be carried out in an environment with minimal shade (clouds, shade trees) to achieve a yellow appearance in order to complete the process faster. Red honey (which retains about 50% of the pectin layer) takes longer and requires some shade to expose. Black honey (retaining approximately 100% of the pectin layer) is usually covered to prolong exposure.

Yellow honey, red honey, black honey treated coffee (from left to right)

Yellow honey & red honey & black honey which is better?

Black honey may be better, honey processing flavor will bring more subtle and deep influence because of the residual sugar in pectin layer, the more pectin layer residue, the more intense flavor. (This is the view of the author of this article. Coffee seedlings believe that each treatment has its own unique flavor, which varies from person to person.)

However, coffee producers must face another commercial consideration: although the benefits of black honey treatment are to produce better quality and better price coffee, the risks and costs are also greatly increased, which may affect farmers 'willingness to use black honey treatment. The longer coffee is exposed to the sun, the more bacteria will breed during fermentation, resulting in defective moldy beans. The beans need to be turned more frequently and take up to twice as much exposure space as yellow honey. Not just to make high-quality coffee, but also to make coffee farmers produce the best coffee.

Costa Coffee

So what does honey processing mean to you?

Bean Baker: The key to honey treatment is consistency in taste and flavor

The challenge that bean bakers often face is how to mix the recipe beans, or how to maintain the flavor of a recipe as much as possible. This means understanding not only honey processing, but also other processing methods to help blend formula beans. Beans can be switched more accurately, new recipe beans created, and flavor options filled in when replacing beans narrowed.

However, there are many different variables that affect and vary based on region, treatment, planting altitude, etc. The coffee you end up with, don't buy blindly because it's honey-treated coffee, it may have great sweetness, sourness and fruity aftertaste, but it doesn't have to be the same every time.

Barista: Knowledge of coffee is valuable

Baristas make coffee for everyone every day, and knowing how coffee is grown, processed, harvested, and roasted from the beginning can be a great help for baristas to make better coffee flavors that you have never tasted before. Each cup of coffee is unique. A coffee shop contains a rich chocolate and caramel flavor of the formula beans. Before blending, its single product may be a highly sweet and low sour sun Ethiopian coffee.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and absorb knowledge from all sides with the heart of knowledge, not only for yourself, but also for consumers. If you can tell consumers why sun-dried Ethiopian coffee is so much sweeter than the washed Indonesian Sumatra coffee they drank last week, consumers will want to come back to your coffee shop. People are inquisitive, and when they think the barista around them knows what they want, they come back.

Full-bodied particles, ideal acidity, unique and intense aroma.

Tarrazu, Costa Rica, is one of the world's leading coffee producers, producing coffee with a light, pure flavor and pleasant aroma. Costa Rica's volcanic soils are fertile and well drained, making it the first country in Central America to grow coffee and bananas for commercial value. Coffee and bananas are the country's main exports. Coffee was introduced to Costa Rica from Cuba in 1729, and today its coffee industry is one of the most organized in the world, producing up to 1700 kilograms per hectare. Costa Rica has a population of 3.5 million, but coffee trees number 400 million, and coffee exports account for 25% of the country's total exports. Costa Rica also benefits from the Turrialba of the Central American Agricultural Research Institute (IAAC), an important international research centre, based in Tarazu.

High-quality Costa Rican coffee is known as "extra-hard" and can be grown at altitudes above 1500 meters. Altitude has always been a problem for coffee growers. Coffee beans are better at higher altitudes, not only because higher altitudes increase the acidity of coffee beans and thus enhance flavor, but also because lower night temperatures at higher altitudes cause trees to grow slowly, thus making coffee beans more flavorful. In addition, due to the high altitude drop caused by sufficient rainfall, the growth of coffee trees is also very favorable. However, while there are many advantages to growing coffee at higher altitudes, the additional transportation costs associated with it must be taken into account, which may well make coffee production unprofitable. Costa Rican coffee has adopted new technologies to increase efficiency, including the use of "electric eyes" to select beans and identify beans of irregular size.

Tarasu is located south of the country's capital, San José, and is one of the country's most prized coffee plantations. La Minita Tarrazu coffee is locally famous but produced in limited quantities, about 72600 kilograms per year, grown on land called La Minita, owned by the last three generations of the McAlpine family in England. In fact, the land produces more than 450 tons of coffee per year. But Tarasulamita coffee is grown without artificial fertilizers or pesticides, and is harvested and picked entirely by hand, in order to avoid some of the damage done to the beans by air-jet sorting.

Other coffees worth mentioning are Juan Vinas (PR), H.Tournon, Windmill (SHB), Monte bello and Santa Rosa. Fine coffee is grown in Geredia and the Central Valley. Another striking coffee is Sarchi (one of the five towns that represent Costa Rica's "coffee route"), which grows on the slopes of Poas Volcano, 53 kilometers from San Jose. Saatchi was founded in 1949 and has 30770 hectares of land to grow sugar cane and coffee. The area is also known for its handicrafts, which attract tourists from all over the world.

The country's coffee industry, formerly controlled by Instituto del Café de Costa Rica (ICAFE), has been taken over by the Official Coffee Council (Oficina del Café). Among coffee exports, those deemed substandard are colored with blue vegetable dye and then returned to domestic sales. Coffee consumed domestically (dyed blue or undyed) accounts for about 10% of total production, and local coffee consumption per capita is twice that of Italy or the United States.

About Costa Rican Coffee Beans (Central America)

Tarrazu, Costa Rica is one of the world's largest coffee producing regions, located in the central valley of Costa Rica, south of the country's capital San Jose, where there is a very rich alpine volcanic soil. Tarrazu is one of Costa Rica's four premium coffee growing regions, the other three being Tres Rios, Heredia and Alajuela.

Tarazu produces coffee with a light, pure flavor, bright acidity and citrus or berry aromas. Coffee produced in this region is highly rated on the international coffee market. At Tarrazu there is a hard-to-find gluttonous coffee bean, La Minita Tarrazu, which produces coffee in limited quantities, about 72,600 kilograms (160,000 pounds) per year, grown on land called La Minita, owned by the last three generations of the McAlpine family in England. The reason it's so popular is that Tara Zulamata is grown without artificial fertilizers or pesticides, and is harvested and picked separately by hand (to avoid some of the damage done to the beans by air-jet sorting).

Costa Rican coffee also includes Juan Vinas (PR); H.Tournon; Windmill (SHB); Monte bellow; Santa Rosa;FJO Sarchi. P.S. Good Costa Rican coffee beans are called "extra hard beans" and are classified as follows:

Strictly Hard Beans (SHB) Above 1200 m (3900 ft)

GHB (Good Hard Beans) Altitude 1200- 1000 m (3900- 3300 ft)

Medium Hard Beans (MHB) 1000- 500 m (3300- 1600 ft) above sea level

Sweet flowers

Costa Rica Honey Process

If you like coffee that tastes light and sweet like tea, melon-like and slightly floral, with lemon and nut flavors, Costa Rican honey-treated beans may be right up your alley. The so-called honey treatment refers to removing the outer skin of the coffee cherry fruit with a pulper first, and then removing the outer skin of the coffee cherry fruit. Green beans with pectin in shell are placed on a trellis for sun treatment. This water-saving treatment can make coffee taste sweeter.

Located in San Isidro de Heredia in Costa Rica's volcanically fertile Central Valley, Zamora Estate is the winner of the 2012 Costa Rica C.O.E. Coffee Competition. The farm is owned by the Rodríguez Carballo family, who have been engaged in coffee production since 1880. This coffee has a complex flavor with floral and ripe juicy fruit notes and a very clean taste.

Costa Rica Finca Tres Milagros

Camilo, owner of Casa Santo Ario, is mentioned in the fine coffee circle and most people agree that because of his unusual passion for coffee cultivation and his innovative spirit, he has been the partner of many top Barista companies around the world for many years. In 2013, the Facusse family, which has long operated a food sales company Dinant in Costa Rica, decided to use Camilo's successful experience in planting estates in Colombia to start a new estate project in Costa Rica and named it Three Miracles Estate. The name comes from Camilo's belief that all successful estates absolutely have these three factors working together and cooperating with each other. These three factors are coffee trees, farmers and land.

Location was the most decisive factor in deciding to start the Costa Rican estate project, and after a long process of discussion and land evaluation, Tarrazu, Costa Rica's highest producing area, was chosen. The estate is located in an area with an altitude of 1,450 - 1,750 meters and a soil of volcanic ash from Irazu, which provides sufficient nutrients for coffee trees. At the same time, Camilo also requires the estate to maintain a low density of coffee tree planting area, which is more conducive to the absorption and growth of coffee tree nutrients, and has a higher promotion for cup taste. At present, the planting area of Three Miracles Manor is about 120 hectares, and the annual top micro-batch yield is only about 300 bags. In addition, the hardware equipment of the estate is mainly planned according to four key points:

The first is to use the Green House System to provide better humidity, temperature and ventilation of green coffee beans during the sun drying stage.

The second is the Intercrop system, which provides diversity to the farm ecosystem by planting different plants and also helps farmers control the farm ecology.

The third is Shade Grown System, most of the trees in the estate are Inga species combined with some other local trees, so that the coffee trees grow in a perfect shade environment to protect the growth of coffee trees.

The fourth is to choose the right coffee varieties. Camilo decided to adopt traditional coffee varieties with low yield but better flavor at the beginning of plantation. Besides Bourbon and Geisha, F1 is a new variety developed by CIRAD in Costa Rica in recent years. F1 is a mixture of Villa Sarchi+Sachimor and Sudan Rume. In addition to the traditional flavor of Villa Sarchi in Central America, it also has the citrus flavor of African variety Sudan Rume.

Three Wonders Bourbon Honey Three Wonders Manor Bourbon Honey Finca Tres Milagros Bourbon Honey

Country: Costa Rica

■ Production area: Dota, Tarrazu

■ Altitude: 1450-1750 m

■ Treatment method: honey treatment

■ Level: SHB

■ Breed: Bourbon

■ Flavor description: stone fruit, syrup, brown sugar, honey

Three Miracles F1 Day Three Miracles Manor F1 Sunburn Finca Tres Milagros F1 Natural

Country: Costa Rica

■ Production area: Dota, Tarrazu

■ Altitude: 1450-1750 m

■ Treatment method: sun exposure

■ Level: SHB

■ Variety: F1

■ Flavor description: peach, fruit juice, cranberry juice, good cleanliness

Three Miracles F1 Honey Three Miracles Manor F1 Honey Finca Tres Milagros F1 Honey

Country: Costa Rica

■ Production area: Dota, Tarrazu

■ Altitude: 1450-1750 m

■ Treatment method: honey treatment

■ Level: SHB

■ Variety: F1

■ Flavor description: syrup, apricot, grape, apple juice, smoky finish

Three Miracles Geisha Day Three Miracles Manor Geisha Sun Finca Tres Milagros Geisha Natural

Country: Costa Rica

■ Production area: Dota, Tarrazu

■ Altitude: 1450-1750 m

■ Treatment method: sun exposure

■ Level: SHB

■ Breed: Geisha

■ Flavor description: Citrus peel, orange, clean, sweet

Finca Tres Milagros Bourbon Washed

Country: Costa Rica

■ Production area: Dota, Tarrazu

■ Altitude: 1450-1750 m

■ Treatment method: washing

■ Level: SHB

■ Breed: Bourbon

■ Flavor Description: Light floral, stone fruit, chocolate, hazelnut, citrus, herbal aromas

Laminieta is a world-class manor, in the eyes of some coffee circles and barrista, she is a king class, because last year's WBC champion, Danish Klaus Thomsen used Laminieta as the main espresso formula, but also used as a creative drink structure flavor, this year in Tokyo, there are still contestants to use.

Starting this year, McAlpin family, with "La Minita" as the common quality control label for all raw beans of the group, all raw beans exported by the group are marked on the seam of the sack car, the following is the newly arrived La Minta and the label:

The McAlpin family started La Minita in 1967, so to speak. When discussing boutique coffee estates, it is inevitable to mention "La Minita"! In recent years, SCAA and SCAE cup test courses, lecturers almost every time in the list of taste or fine beans, will mention La Minita, and La Minita not only sold in Europe for more than 50 years but also enjoyed a high reputation in the American market!

La Minita has been known for 7 main features over the years:

[1] Superior geographical conditions and microclimate: Tarrazu is Costa Rica's most famous growing area, but Laminita has two rivers, Tarrazu River and Alubre River. These two rivers converge in the mountains west of the estate, which can fully regulate the temperature. The advantage of facing west of the estate makes the farm not too cold in the morning and not too fast in the evening. The rainfall distribution is very good. There is moderate rainfall from flowering to fruiting period. Moisture, good clay layer provides sufficient nutrients. The average altitude of 4000 to 6000 feet makes the bean hard enough to be sweet!

Below you can see the rivers and spectacular waterfalls in the estate area:

[2] Screening good varieties: The estate has Caturra, Catuai red, Catuai yellow and Hibrido (i.e. hybrid species). After cup testing and statistical screening, Caturra and a small amount of old Hibrido are currently the main coffee species.

[3] Strict quality control (1) rotation and tree replacement system, all coffee trees take five years rotation, that is, the fifth year after harvest must be cut down to only 50 cm Michael trees, to rest until they grow up and then harvest! There are 1.5 million trees in the farm, and an average of 350,000 trees have to be cut down every year! In addition to planting rotation, we have to change trees! Each coffee tree is only harvested for 15 years, and after 15 years, it is replaced to ensure quality. 150,000 coffee trees are replaced every year, and shade trees are planted around the coffee trees to shade them.

[4] Wet treatment field procedures are very strict and after treatment, the first stage of drying machine after the sun.

The following is an aerial view of the wet treatment plant and some of its equipment

[5] The elimination rate of raw beans exceeds 70%, that is, only less than 29% of raw beans can be sold under the label of La Minita's manor beans.

[6] In the final selection stage of raw beans, it takes 30,000 man-hours to carefully select, and only qualified ones can be marked with La Minita.

The manual screening shown below is the final stage

[7] Take care! For example: During the harvest period, Laminita's coffee trees have to be harvested in batches five times on average, because only the most mature cherries are picked, and batch harvesting means labor consumption and great patience;Pruning is rotation planting, which ensures that the land is not excessively barren and that the quality of green beans can be maintained at its peak without the use of chemical fertilizers to force fertilization; Processing refers to the post-harvest processing of coffee cherries, and in 2001 La Minita acquired its own wet processing plant in order to maintain consistent quality.

The picture shows the estate manager introducing the coffee tree and planting pruning process, and on the other side is La Minita beans being bagged:

This year La Minita's spice sweet with berries wind still! The clean and varied flavor generally maintains the same style, especially this year more Tokyo WBC competition contestants use formula beans, each show their magic power, but also presents her charming variety of flavors, this is Laminita!

The following is the 2007 Laminita cup test report: (Osher M0 baking degree, Fuji Japan 1 kg baking machine baking, 11 minutes from the pan)

Country: Costa RicaRegion: Tarazhu Estate: La Minita

Harvest Date: February 2007

Variety: caturra, old hibrido Treatment method: washing fermentation, the latter stage of the first sun and then low temperature drying

Grade: SHB Appearance/Defects: Green 0d/350g

Dry: light perfumery, alpine tea, sweet candy, berry fruit and apple, grape, clean and elegant aroma

Moist: berry fruity, caramel, creamy, floral, slightly spicy

Sip: berry lime acid fragrance, caramel fragrance, good sense of oil, elegant nose apple fragrance, melon, tea fragrance, grapefruit sweet and sour, clean and unique flavor sweet feeling after taste, the mouth feel of the aftertaste is not tight and quite salivation.

price

Bulk discount (description)

Costa Rica Tarrazu SHB Montanas del Diamante Estate

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Franchise countries coffee beans import sales of Lianjie coffee, in April quotation, a new Costa Rica Tara bead production area Diamond Hill Manor, marked is planted at an altitude of 1,800 meters of extremely hard beans, although it is a sack bag, but there are multiple plastic bags (GrainPro Bag), think the quality should have a certain level, the price is also approachable, first to a 5 kg small package baked to see.

Meanwhile, the information on Costa Rica's Diamond Mountain found from the Internet is as follows:

ORIGIN: Costa Rica

REGION: Tarrazu

SUBREGION: Dota Valley

PRODUCER: Montanas Del Diamante Estate/Gutierrez Family

PLANT SPECIES: Arabica

PROCESSING METHOD: Washed

PROCESSING DESCRIPTION: The coffee is fully washed and patio dried.

WET MILL NAME: Montanas del Diamante Mill

COFFEE GRADE: SHB EP

SCREEN SIZE: 15 Up

GROWING ALTITUDE: 1750-1850m

ANNUAL RAINFALL （MM）： 250

SOIL TYPE: Volcanic

PLANT VARIETAL（S）： Red Catuai

TYPES: Estate Coffees, Grain Pro / Ecotact

It is also mentioned on other websites that most of the varieties planted here are Red Catuai, which is a hybrid of Caturra and Mundo Novo. This batch of raw beans are not large in size, about 15 mesh, do not know whether this variety of characteristics?

This time, it was not baked very lightly. The roasting degree was about 3 minutes before it came down, so the overall acidity was mild, and the aroma was not very prominent. This could be smelled from the raw beans, but the cleanliness of the taste was quite satisfactory. The soft citrus sour taste should be acceptable to friends who do not drink sour coffee. The sweet taste of brown sugar and cocoa flavor lasted for a long time before dispersing in the mouth.

In recent years, Costa Rica has not disappointed everyone, and the C/P value is far behind Guatemala. It is a good choice whether it is made into a single product or put into a comprehensive formula.

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Tel: 02-23583032

Linking Coffee, Costa Rica Tarrazu, Montanas del Diamante Estate, Coffee Beans, Green Beans, Linking Coffee, Costa Rica Diamond Hills

Have you ever wondered what coffee honey treatment is? (This article only discusses red honey processing) Is this coffee better than the other processing methods you are used to drinking?

This article takes you through what honey treatment is, what its characteristics are, and what it means differently for baristas and roasters.

Why honey?

There are three main types of coffee treatment: sun, water, honey treatment. Sunlight method is to directly expose coffee cherries before removing the shell and pectin layer; washing method is to sift out coffee pulp before exposure and ferment to remove pectin layer; honey treatment method is between sunlight method and washing method: after sifting out coffee pulp, keep pectin layer directly and expose to sunlight.

Then you ask where the honey is?

The term honey treatment leads many people to think that this treatment means treating coffee with honey or that this treatment makes coffee taste sweet, but in fact neither of these explanations. Honey treatment means that the pectin layer of coffee beans is very sticky before exposure, and the sticky feeling is like honey. When the coffee pulp is separated from the coffee beans, the pectin layer coated by the outside is exposed to the sun, absorbing moisture from the air and making the pectin layer sticky.

When coffee is sifted to remove the pulp, a pectin layer remains on the outside of the coffee bean.

Why is honey processing popular with coffee farmers?

Honey processing started in Costa Rica when some people saw that this process could continue to improve the quality of their coffee beans, and this process is now in full swing.

So why did Costa Rican coffee farmers plan to treat it with honey in the first place? When coffee farmers want to increase the quality or price of their coffee, they have three options: change the species of coffee, change the elevation at which they grow it, or change the treatment. Just as most people brew coffee in a simpler way, adjusting the grind and powder levels before adjusting the water, pressure and temperature of the coffee machine, most coffee farmers want to change the treatment before they consider planting new trees or relocating their farms, which requires time and money.

Honey treatment is time-consuming and exquisite

The honey treatment method can be complicated, and the treatment takes a long time and must be handled carefully. What steps does honey processing involve?

First, coffee farmers pick ripe cherries from coffee trees and sift them out of the outer pulp, as mentioned above, to retain the pectin layer around the beans. The pectin layer retains a high proportion of sugars and acids, which are key to honey processing.

The following steps are the most complex and delicate part of honey treatment: exposure. The time point must be well mastered, the length of time is the key, if the exposure time is too short, the pectin layer cannot be converted into coffee beans, and the time cannot be too long, the action must be fast to avoid internal fermentation of beans and moldy beans.

So how do you strike a balance? Put the beans on a sun rack or concrete floor and turn them several times per hour for the first few days until they reach the desired moisture content, a step that usually takes 6-10 hours. After 6-8 days, turn at least once a day. Time consuming, huh? The reason why the honey-treated sun is so time-consuming is that each night the beans absorb moisture from the air, so that they need to spend more time in the sun the next day.

When the coffee is fully exposed, it is almost ready for drying and roasting, just like any other treatment.

Honey treated coffee is being exposed to the sun on concrete floors

Why is honey treatment so good?

When honey processing is so difficult and time-consuming, you might wonder if it's really worth it.

It was definitely worth it.

Honey-treated coffee generally has a great balance of sweetness and acidity. The flavor is generally less intense than sun-cured coffee, but it is fresher and more mellow. Why not?

The key to this flavor difference comes from the sugars and acids in the pectin layer, which become more concentrated during exposure and penetrate into the beans.

Yellow honey, red honey, black honey treatment, where is the difference?

When you buy honey-treated coffee, you usually have yellow, red, or black honey to choose from. You may have heard about how much pectin is retained in each of these honey treatments, and what does that mean?