Costa Rica once banned the cultivation of robusta coffee and now dominates the world with honey-treated coffee.

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[coffee producing trip] Costa Rican coffee, once banned from planting Robusta, now dominates the world with honey treatment

Costa Rican forest

The Costa Rican coffee industry began to develop very early, shipping coffee to Colombia and Chile in 1820, and in 1845, with the assistance of the captain of the British merchant ship the Sovereign, a hundred pounds of coffee was transported to London. and by the British aristocracy called "golden beans from Costa Rica".

Gradually, coffee has become the main cash crop in Costa Rica, and coffee farmers have a very high status in Costa Rica. But interestingly, Costa Rican law allows only Arabica trees, and Robusta coffee trees are contraband in Costa Rica, which is indeed rare in the world!

Schematic diagram of Costa Rican coffee forest

Costa Rican coffee flavor-alcohol thickness and acidity balance

Costa Rican coffee has a good balance. Compared with the sharpness of Guatemala, Costa Rican coffee is much milder and softer, with sour, sweet and bitter smell of chocolate, which is the classic flavor of gourmet coffee! Costa Rican coffee flavor, in fact, will change according to different elevations, high altitude mountain acidity is stronger, alcohol thickness is clear, and the lower the altitude, the smoother the taste!

Costa Rica-Coffee producing area

Costa Rican coffee has seven major coffee producing areas, and the quality of the sloping coffee facing the Pacific Ocean is better than that facing the Atlantic Ocean. Some of the more well-known producing areas are the Central Valley, Tarazu and Sanhe areas, and the Laminita Farm (La Minita), located in the Tarazhu region, is a world-famous coffee farm!

"Raminita" actually means "small gold mine". Before the Yaya colonized, the Indians dug gold mines at the location of Raminita Farm!

It is not without reason that Raminita Farm is so famous. This farm produces about 1 million pounds of coffee beans every year. After layers of checks, only 290000 pounds of high-end products can be sold in the boutique coffee market, which means that 70% of the coffee beans have been eliminated. The degree of strict quality control is admirable! Raminita's coffee has sour aromas of apple and citrus, as well as rich flavors of milk and truffles, which are as delicate and elegant as silk on the palate.

Costa Rican coffee raw beans

Costa Rican coffee originates "honey treatment"

In fact, most of Costa Rica is washed with water, but in recent years, "Honey Coffee" has appeared, mainly improving the half-sun method in Brazil, trying to completely retain the pectin layer stuck to the shell beans (Brazil scraped off part of the pectin layer), and after peeling, put the sticky shell beans in the outdoor viaduct for about one to two weeks of exposure and air-drying. The whole process is dried by sunlight (Brazil is placed on the cement floor and exposed only for one to three days, and the rest is dried by a machine), so it is more obvious in sweetness, also known as "sweet as honey" treatment!

I have introduced the treasure manor in Costa Rica, which specializes in black honey treatment: the treasure manor in Costa Rica, a boutique coffee producing area valued by Costa Rica.

Honey treatment is actually very labor-intensive. You have to turn the shell beans every other hour to make the beans evenly dry, and one of the major disadvantages is that the risk is very high, mainly because Costa Rica is not actually drier than Brazil. However, using this long-term exposure treatment, wet weather is easy to mildew, but it also reflects the high level of Costa Rican coffee!

Coffee and honey

Costa Rican coffee and honey

Conclusion

In addition to being unique in coffee processing, Costa Rica is also famous for its coffee production that pays attention to environmental protection and prevention of public hazards. It is worth learning from other coffee countries to adopt the processing method of giving priority to the environment.

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