What are the characteristics of coffee and bean honey treatment? does Costa Rican honey treat coffee bitter?

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Introduction to Qianjie-Costa Rican honey treatment

Costa Rica is a well-known coffee producing country in the world, located in Latin America. Coffee is the main agricultural product and important economic source of Costa Rica, with a yield of 1700 kg per hectare and an annual output of more than 2 million bags (each bag of 60KG). Coffee bean exports account for 25% of Costa Rica's total exports. The coffee industry in Costa Rica is quite mature because of the fact that more than one percent of the country's population is engaged in coffee-related industries. The main producing area is in Tarazhu. it is one of the important coffee growers in Costa Rica and one of the major coffee growers in the world.

In 1729, Costa Rica introduced coffee from Cuba and planted it, mainly Kaddura, Kaduai and other varieties. And Costa Rica's national law stipulates that only Arabica coffee is allowed to be planted in the country (the other is robusta, Arabica beans are of better quality), and it is illegal to grow robusta, which is very rare in coffee plantations all over the world, indicating the full importance of coffee quality.

The treatment method of Costa Rica is also different from that of other countries, and honey treatment is mainly used throughout the country. What is honey treatment?

The coffee bean is the core of the coffee fruit, the outermost layer of the fruit is the peel, under the skin is the pulp, and under the pulp is pectin, which is a thick gelatinous layer that tightly wraps the coffee beans. because this layer of mucous membrane is sticky and the powdered sugar is extremely high, it is called "honey" by people.

Honey treatment refers to the process of making raw beans with mucous membrane for sun drying, which is between the sun treatment (whole fruit drying) and water washing (decomposing the colloid with water). This treatment keeps the water clean, although the brightness decreases, but the sweetness of coffee has been increased.

There is also a hierarchical distinction in honey treatment:

Yellow honey treatment: retain 20% of 50% pectin, dry with light, last for about 8 days, so that the moisture content reaches a stable value.

Red honey treatment: retain more than 50% of the pectin, longer drying time, reduce the direct exposure time of light, will be used in the sunshade, lasting about two weeks.

Black honey treatment: retain more than 80% pectin, about 2-3 weeks to dry dehydration, use sunshade, prevent drying too fast, so that coffee more fully absorb pectin converted sugar.

Why do other countries seldom use honey treatment? apart from the fact that the process is vulnerable to pollution and mildew, it needs to be closely watched throughout the process and constantly flipped over to avoid bad fermentation flavor, but also depends on the local weather and climate. The weather must be dry and sunny, otherwise it is not suitable for honey treatment. Costa Rica's climate is dry for half a year, which happens to be dry during the coffee harvest season. Therefore, coffee farmers summed up the development of honey treatment methods, thanks to the intelligent working people.

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