What is the special flavor of Costa Rican black honey coffee beans | characteristics of Costa Rican black honey treatment

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When it comes to the treatment of coffee, in addition to washing and tanning, there is also a quite common treatment-honey treatment, which is between washing and tanning, which is very common in Costa Rica.

Characteristics of honey treatment

After Brazil's peeling and tanning method has spread to Central American countries such as Costa Rica and El Salvador, it is called honey treatment after improvement.

Honey treatment is the process of making raw beans by sun-drying with mucous membranes. After the outer pulp of the coffee bean is removed, there will be a layer of sticky jelly, which will be washed off with clean water in the traditional washing method, but because of the water resources limitations of some high-altitude areas, this method of drying directly with pectin was born.

According to the thickness of pectin planing, the length of sunshine time (or drying thickness), and the frequency of turning when drying, honey treatment can be divided into black honey, red honey, orange honey, yellow honey and white honey.

According to the thickness of the pectin:

Black honey: hardly removes pectin, so it takes the longest time to dry and lasts for more than 14 days. In order to avoid drying too fast, cover will be used to block too strong sunlight to make sugar conversion more fully.

Red honey: remove 25% pectin (the specific methods of each manor vary), the sun lasts for about 12 days, and shading sheds may also be used in the process.

Yellow honey: remove 40% pectin and receive maximum light drying for about 8 days.

Some producing areas and estates are distinguished according to the thickness of coffee beans and the number of turns, such as yellow honey and white honey, both retain 20-30% pectin:

Yellow honey: thick layer drying, less turning times, long drying time

White honey: thin layer drying, more turning times, short drying time.

In terms of flavor, the sweet and sour feeling of [black honey] treatment is obvious, and the feeling of some fruit juice is obvious; [red honey] treatment is more balanced, with obvious raisin flavor; and [yellow honey] treatment is relatively clean, and the fermentation flavor is not heavy, preferring the flavor of citrus.

Beans treated with black honey retain more pectin, so they are obviously uneven in color and smell rich fermented aroma and Sydney-like fragrance.

On the other hand, because the beans treated with yellow honey retain relatively little pectin, they look more uniform yellowish green and smell like grass and rice.

Red honey is in the middle, with a hint of fermented and grassy aromas.

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