A brief introduction to the History and Culture of the Origin and Development of Costa Rican Fine Coffee beans

Among the many excellent producing areas in Costa Rica, there is a famous producing area-Tarazu (Tarrazu), also known as Tarasu. Tarazhu is very famous in the world of boutique coffee and is one of the major coffee producing areas in the world. In the 2014 COE competition, of the 23 beans on the list, 17 came from Tarasu. Tarasu is located in the fertile volcanic region of Central America, which has a humid climate and fertile volcanic soil, abundant rainfall throughout the year, high altitude, and dense forest natural shade, providing a unique growth environment for coffee growth. Pesticides or artificial fertilizers are not used in the planting process. Nearly 95% of the coffee beans produced in Tarazhu Alpine are very hard beans (SHB), which generally grow above 1500 meters above sea level.

At present, the Tarazhu Cooperative has 26 member estates. Among them, Raminita Manor, which is one of the most famous coffee farms in Tarazu. La Minita produces about 1 million pounds of coffee beans a year, and after the entire estate produces coffee beans that are carefully selected to remove defects, only 15 per cent of the coffee beans can bear the mark of the Laminita estate, while the rest enter the coffee market. But the prices of these coffees entering the market are still higher than those of other beans produced in Central America. Raminita's strict management of all aspects of coffee production has established a world-class reputation and can be called a world-famous coffee farm.

Costa Rican coffee bean flavor description grinding scale production area variety treatment method taste introduction anchor point

Excellent Costa Rican coffee is called "extra hard beans". This kind of coffee can grow above 1500 meters above sea level. Altitude has always been a problem for coffee growers. The higher the altitude, the better the coffee beans, not only because the higher altitude can increase the acidity of the coffee beans and thus increase the flavor, but also because the night temperature at the higher altitude is lower, which can make the trees grow slowly, thus the flavor of the coffee beans is stronger. In addition, due to the high altitude drop caused by sufficient rainfall, it is very beneficial to the growth of coffee trees. However, its negative effect is to increase additional transportation costs, which is likely to make coffee production unprofitable. Costa Rica's coffee industry has adopted new technologies to increase efficiency, including using "electric eyes" to select beans and identify irregular-sized coffee beans S.H.B. It is a very hard bean with an altitude of more than 1500 meters above sea level, which means high quality Costa Rican coffee. Altitude has always been a problem for coffee growers. The higher the altitude, the better the coffee beans, not only because the higher altitude can increase the acidity of the coffee beans and thus increase the flavor, but also because the night temperature at the higher altitude is lower, which can make the trees grow slowly, thus making the coffee beans have a stronger flavor. In addition, due to the high altitude drop caused by sufficient rainfall, is also very beneficial to the growth of coffee trees. However, while there are many advantages to growing coffee at higher elevations, the resulting additional transport costs must be taken into account, which is likely to make coffee production unprofitable. Costa Rica's coffee industry has adopted new technologies to increase efficiency

Costa Rica's coffee industry, originally controlled by the Costa Rican Coffee Industry Company (ICAFE), has been taken over by the official Coffee Committee (Oficinale Cafe). Among the exported coffee, those products that are considered to be of substandard quality are colored with blue vegetable dyes and then transferred back to China for sale. Coffee consumed domestically (dyed blue or undyed) accounts for about 10% of total production, and local per capita coffee consumption is twice that of Italy or the United States.

Brazilian coffee fruit, a coffee producer, accounts for 1/3 of the world's coffee consumption and occupies a place in the global coffee market, although Costa Rica faces several times more natural disasters than other regions. but its acreage is enough to make up for it.

There are many kinds of coffee here, but its industrial policy is large and cheap, so there is not much premium coffee, but it is a good choice for mixing other coffees.

Costa Rican coffee has always been regarded as a perfect type of classic flavor, balanced, clean and mild is his tone. San Juan Youzhuang, a processing plant in the western valley, comes from a famous orange county (Naranjo), and is famous for its excellent natural geographical conditions and excellent regional planting and management techniques. it has almost perfect classical flavor and lively citrus flavor in acidity. BlackBerry fruit aroma, acidity and taste thick, melon sweet taste smooth, drupe / micro-flower aroma, while the finish has a significant coffee flower aroma, is a taste of coffee full of Latin country style. Its flavor features brown sugar, floral aroma, almonds, black tea, oranges and sweet spices, mild acidity, syrup taste and a good finish.

The natural treatment process of French Sika is quite laborious. The artificially picked high-sugar coffee fruit is first placed in an African viaduct in the sun for about 10 days, and then placed in a plastic-covered greenhouse to create more direct heat and continue to dry. until the water content reaches 11.5%. The slow drying process allows raw beans to develop more natural sweetness from the inside, but it also needs to be taken care of more carefully and constantly turned. In the end, the red cherries turn black, giving off the aroma of fruitcake, black sugar and even sherry. This is the "Perla Negra"!

There are eight Costa Rican producing areas, of which Tarazu, the Central Valley and the Western Valley are recognized as the three best producing areas. Las Lajas is located in the foothills of Sabanilla de Alajuela and Poas Volcano in the Central Valley. Strictly speaking, "Lajas" is actually the name of the Chakon family processing plant. The name of the manor is Finca La Mirella, but bean bakers around the world are also accustomed to calling it Finca las lajas Lajas. It is also the first manor in Central America to start honey treatment and natural sun treatment. Tanning is a very traditional practice, which uses the least resources, but because there are too many uncontrollable factors, it is very difficult to do well. Francesca has added many innovations, such as using the sugar meter (Brix meter), which is often equipped in the wine industry, to measure the sugar content of the fruit, and to determine the best time and treatment of harvest according to the sugar content of Brix. Only those with more than 20% sweetness will be exposed to the sun. The Brix value of general fruit is 14 for apple, 12 for lemon and 18 for passion fruit, but the coffee cherry in Lajas can reach 21 / 22%.

In the treatment of raw coffee beans, Costa Rica's Meil treatment (also known as honey treatment) has its own characteristics. Lao Li also recently got the beans treated with Costa Rican red honey to supplement the unique method of Costa Rican Meil processing.

The treatment of honey:

After removing the peel and pulp, the coffee beans with pectin are dried. The key to distinguishing between different honey treatments lies in the remaining pectin: the proportion of retained pectin, drying time and drying method.

The characteristics of honey treatment:

When picking, test the sugar content first and pick only coffee fruits with a sugar content of 210.22%. Honey treatment is different from other processing methods and should be dried on AFRICAN BED (tanning bed). If it dries directly on the cement or on the land, it is easy to scratch the coffee beans when turned, resulting in bacterial damage. Direct soil exposure can also give coffee beans an earthy taste.

The taste difference between honey treatment and washing treatment:

Higher sweetness, higher sugar content and higher alcohol thickness than washing (under the premise of the same baking degree)

Honey-treated beans need to be well ventilated when they are dry, otherwise the retained pectin mucosa is easy to ferment or mildew and cause bad smell.

Costa Rica's coffee industry, originally controlled by the Costa Rican Coffee Industry Company (ICAFE), has been taken over by the official Coffee Committee (Oficinale Cafe). Among the exported coffee, those products that are considered to be of substandard quality are colored with blue vegetable dyes and then transferred back to China for sale. Coffee consumed domestically (dyed blue or undyed) accounts for about 10% of total production, and local per capita coffee consumption is twice as good as that of Italy or the United States. Costa Rican coffee is called "extra hard beans". This kind of coffee can grow at an altitude of more than 1500 meters. Altitude has always been a problem for coffee growers. The higher the altitude, the better the coffee beans, not only because the higher altitude can increase the acidity of the coffee beans and thus increase the flavor, but also because the night temperature at the higher altitude is lower, which can make the trees grow slowly, thus making the coffee beans have a stronger flavor. In addition, due to the high altitude drop caused by sufficient rainfall, is also very beneficial to the growth of coffee trees. However, while there are many advantages to growing coffee at higher elevations, the resulting additional transport costs must be taken into account, which is likely to make coffee production unprofitable. The coffee industry in Costa Rica has adopted new technologies to increase efficiency, including the use of "electric eyes" to select beans and identify coffee beans of irregular size.

Generally speaking, a large amount of water is used in the post-processing of the picked coffee fruit, but the advanced production equipment in Costa Rica saves the use of water resources to the greatest extent, and a circulating filter is used to treat the waste water from washing coffee beans. let the waste water be purified into clean water to prevent pollution of the local soil environment.

After peeling, the peel and pulp of the coffee fruit are recovered as feed for livestock, or converted into organic fertilizer, as well as coffee bean dryer fuel. It can be said that in every process of coffee production, Costa Rica complies with the requirements of maintaining the natural environment.