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History, culture, stories and allusions of Costa Rican coffee boutique beans

Published: 2024-09-20 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2024/09/20, For the exchange of professional baristas, please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style) the history, culture, stories and allusions of Costa Rican coffee boutique beans are also mentioned on another website, where most of the varieties grown here are Red Catuai, that is, a hybrid of Caturra and Mundo Novo. The granules of this batch of raw beans are not large, about 15 eyes.

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Costa Rican coffee boutique beans history, culture, story allusions

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 much milder. 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 acid should be acceptable to friends who did 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.

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 keep their coffee beans up, and it's now a process that's getting stronger.

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 difficult, 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?

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, 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 a light, sweet, tea-like coffee that tastes like honeydew and has a slight floral, lemon, and nutty flavor, 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 the fertile central valley of Costa Rica (Central Valley), the Zamora estate in San Isidro (San Isidro de Heredia) is the winner of the 2012 Costa Rican C.O.E Coffee Competition. The farm is owned by the Rodr  guez Carballo family, who have been producing coffee since 1880. This coffee has a complex taste, with floral aromas and juicy fruit flavors, and the taste is very clean.

Three Wonders Manor Costa Rica Finca Tres Milagros in Costa Rica

In the boutique coffee circle, as long as it is mentioned that Camilo, the owner of the San Tuareo estate, most people agree that because of his unusual enthusiasm for coffee cultivation and innovative experimental spirit, he has become the object of many top Barista cooperation in the world over the years. In 2013, the Facusse family, which has long run Dinant Food Sale in Costa Rica, decided to take advantage of Camilo's successful experience in planting estates in Colombia to start a new manor project in Costa Rica and named it the three Wonders. The name of the three miracles comes from Camilo's belief that all successful manors absolutely have these three factors to cooperate and cooperate with each other. These three elements are coffee trees, farmers and land.

Location was the most important decisive factor in deciding to start the plan for the Costa Rican manor. after a long discussion and land evaluation process, it was finally decided to choose Tarrazu, the highest producing area in Costa Rica, where the estate is located at an altitude of 1450-1750 meters above sea level, and the soil is pozzolanic soil from the Irazu volcano, providing sufficient nutrients for coffee trees. At the same time, Camilo also requires the manor to maintain a low-density coffee planting area, which is more conducive to the absorption and growth of coffee trees, as well as a higher improvement of cup flavor. At present, the planting area of the three Wonders Manor is about 120ha, and the annual top micro-batch output is only about 300bags. In addition, the hardware of the manor is mainly planned according to four key points:

The first is to use the Green House system (Green House System) to provide better humidity, temperature and ventilation of raw coffee beans during the sun-drying phase.

The second is the environmental intercropping symbiosis system (Intercrop System), which not only provides manor ecological diversity by planting different plants, but also helps farmers to control farm ecology.

The third is shade tree planting (Shade Grown System). Most of the Inga trees are used in the manor with some other local trees, so that the growth of coffee trees is in a perfect shade environment to protect the growth of coffee trees.

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

Three Wonders Bourbon Honey three Wonders Manor Bourbon Honey deals with Finca Tres Milagros Bourbon Honey

■ country: Costa Rica

■ producing area: Dota, Tarrazu

■ altitude: 1450-1750 m

■ treatment: honey treatment

■ level: SHB

■ variety: bourbon

■ flavor description: drupe, syrup, brown sugar, honey

Three Wonders F1 Day three Wonders Manor F1 Sunshine Finca Tres Milagros F1 Natural

■ country: Costa Rica

■ producing area: Dota, Tarrazu

■ altitude: 1450-1750 m

■ treatment: insolation

■ level: SHB

■ variety: F1

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

Three Wonders F1 Honey three Wonders Manor F1 Honey treatment Finca Tres Milagros F1 Honey

■ country: Costa Rica

■ producing area: Dota, Tarrazu

■ altitude: 1450-1750 m

■ treatment: honey treatment

■ level: SHB

■ variety: F1

■ flavor description: syrup, apricot, grape, apple juice, smoky aftertaste

Three miracles geisha day three miracles manor geisha sun Finca Tres Milagros Geisha Natural

■ country: Costa Rica

■ producing area: Dota, Tarrazu

■ altitude: 1450-1750 m

■ treatment: insolation

■ level: SHB

■ breed: geisha

■ flavor description: citrus peel, orange, clean, sweet

Three Wonders Manor Bourbon washes Finca Tres Milagros Bourbon Washed

■ country: Costa Rica

■ producing area: Dota (multi-tower), Tarrazu (Tarazhu)

■ altitude: 1450-1750 m

■ treatment: washing

■ level: SHB

■ variety: bourbon

■ flavor description: light floral aromas, drupe, chocolate, hazelnut, citrus, herbaceous aromas

Raminita is a world-class manor. In the eyes of some people in the coffee industry and barista, she is a king, because last year's WBC champion, Klaus Thomsen of Denmark, used Raminita as the main recipe of espresso, and also used as the structure and flavor of creative drinks. Sure enough, some contestants adopted it in Tokyo this year.

Since the beginning of this year, the McAlpin family has used [La Minita] as the common quality control sign for all the raw beans of the group. All the raw beans exported by the group are marked on the sack car with riding seals. The following is the La Mininta and the logo that has just arrived:

The McAlpin family started running La Minita in 1967. It can be said that when discussing a boutique coffee estate, it is bound to mention "Raminita"! In the cup testing courses of SCAA and SCAE in recent years alone, lecturers mention Raminita almost every time they list taste or high-quality beans, while La Minita not only sells well in Europe for more than 50 years, but also enjoys a high reputation in the American market!

Over the years, La Minita has become famous for its seven characteristics:

Superior geographical conditions and microclimate: Tarazu is the most famous producing area in Costa Rica, but Raminita has two major rivers, the Tarrazu River and the Alumbre River converge in the mountains west of the manor, which can fully adjust the temperature, and the advantage of the west of the manor makes the farm have the advantage of not being too cold in the morning and not cooling too fast in the evening. Rainfall distribution is very good, from flowering to fruiting period, there is moderate rainfall irrigation, moisturizing, high-quality clay layer to provide sufficient nutrients, an average of 4000 to 6000 feet high altitude, so that the hardness of beans is high enough!

The following picture shows the rivers and spectacular waterfalls in the manor area:

[2] selected varieties: there are Caturra, Catuai red, Catuai yellow and Hibrido (i.e. hybird) in the manor. After cup quality test and statistical screening, Caturra and a small amount of old Hibrido are the main ones at present.

[3] strict quality control (1) under the system of rotation and tree replacement, all coffee trees are harvested for five years, that is, the trees with only 50% Michael must be cut down in the fifth year after four years of harvest to rest and wait for harvest when they grow up! There are a total of 1.5 million trees in the farm, with an average of 350000 trees being cut down every year. In addition to planting rotation, we have to change trees! Each coffee tree is harvested for only 15 years, and it is replaced 15 years later to ensure its quality. 150000 coffee trees are replaced each year and shade trees are planted around the coffee trees to plant them.

[4] the procedure of the wet treatment field is very strict and the drying machine is used after the treatment.

The following picture shows an aerial view of the wet treatment plant and some of its equipment.

[5] the elimination rate of raw beans is more than 70%, that is, less than 29% of raw beans can be sold as La Minita manor beans.

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

The manual screening of the following figure is the final stage.

[7] use your heart! For example, Harvesting, Pruning and processing are all handled very carefully; in the harvest period, Raminita's coffee trees are harvested in five batches on average, because only the most ripe cherry fruits are picked, while batch harvesting requires a great deal of labor and patience. Pruning is rotational planting, a system that ensures that the land is not too barren and ensures that the quality of raw beans can be maintained at its peak without the use of chemical fertilizers; processing refers to the treatment of coffee fruits after harvest, and in 2001, La Minita had its own wet treatment plant, with the aim of maintaining consistent quality.

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

This year La Minita's spices are sweet and berries are still the same! And the clean and changeable flavor generally maintains the usual elegant demeanor, especially this year more Tokyo WBC competition contestants use as formula beans, each shows her magic power, and presents her charming and diverse flavor, this is Raminita!

The following is the cup test report of 2007 la Minita: (Oshe M0 baking degree, Japanese Fuji 1kg bean baking machine, 11 minutes pot)

Country: Costa Rica: Tarazu Manor: Raminita La Minita

Harvest time: February 2007

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

Grade: SHB appearance / defects: green 0d/350g

Dry aroma: similar to elegant perfume, alpine tea, sweet candy, sour berries and apples, grapes, clean and elegant aromas

Wet fragrance: a variety of berries, caramel, cream, flowers, slightly spicy aromas

Sipping: raspberry lime sour, caramel, good grease, elegant apple, melon, tea, grapefruit sour and sweet, clean aftertaste and unique spice sweetness, the aftertaste is not tight and delicious.

Selling price

Bulk discount price (description)

Tarazhu Diamond Mountain, Costa Rica-Costa Rica Tarrazu SHB Montanas del Diamante Estate

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In the quotation in April, Lianjie Coffee, which specializes in the import and sale of raw beans of coffee from various countries, has entered a new Diamond Hill Manor in the Tarazu producing area of Costa Rica, marked as extremely hard beans grown in the mountains 1800 meters above sea level. Although it is packed in linen bags, it has a number of plastic inner bags (GrainPro Bag). It is supposed to have a certain level of quality and the price is also approachable. Let's take a look at a 5-kilogram package.

At the same time, the data of Costa Rican Diamond Hill searched on the Internet are 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