Costa Rica Music Series ChopinCoffee Bean Intro:

Front Street Coffee: Costa Rica · Canet Estate Chopin

Country: Costa Rica

Region: Tarrazú

Variety: Yellow Catuai

Altitude: 1700m

Process: Raisin Honey Process

|   Region Introduction

Costa Rica is located in Central America, adjacent to Panama where Geisha coffee gained fame. Influenced by the ocean currents and monsoons of both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, it enjoys an excellent microclimate. With its diverse terrain features, it has become a perfect region for coffee to thrive. Although Costa Rica does not rank high in terms of coffee production, the country’s volcanic soil is highly fertile and rich in minerals, coupled with excellent drainage, allowing crops to receive ample rainfall and nutrients, resulting in naturally higher-quality fruits.

Costa Rica has two main seasons: the dry season from December to April, which is also the coffee harvest period, and the wet (rainy) season from May to November. In recent years, numerous micro-processing facilities have been established. These require only 5% of the water used by traditional washed processing plants and do not need large fermentation tanks or drying patios, making the investment relatively small. "Honey process coffee," which features low acidity, increased complexity, and rich sweetness, has thus become a sought-after focus in the coffee industry in recent years.

As can be seen on the map, Costa Rica’s territory is elongated, and its coffee-growing areas are also distributed in a narrow band across the central region. Thanks to its unique climate and volcanic geography, Costa Rica has eight high-quality coffee regions: Central Valley, Tres Ríos, West Valley, Tarrazú, and Brunca—five major regions—as well as three smaller ones: Turrialba, Orosi, and Guanacaste.

Among these, the Tarrazú region is the largest and most well-known specialty coffee-producing area, accounting for 35% of total production. In addition to its rich volcanic soil and cool climate, Tarrazú also benefits from high-altitude cultivation, producing coffee with bright acidity and a rich, full body. It often exhibits flavors of fruit, vanilla, and chocolate. Coupled with the development of specialty coffee and continuous innovation and improvement in processing techniques, Tarrazú coffee has earned a strong reputation within the coffee community.

|  Canet Canet Estate

The Canet Estate is located in the highest-altitude area of the Tarrazú region, which is also the area with the densest fruit cultivation in Costa Rica. The Canet Estate primarily grows passion fruit, with very limited coffee production. Coffee is grown in only one specific area and is given special care.

All coffee cherries are hand-picked, selecting only ripe red cherries. However, before processing, an additional screening step is conducted to remove any underripe or overripe beans.

 |  Raisin Honey Process

The Raisin Honey Process is a type of double-fermentation honey process. On the day of coffee cherry harvesting, the harvested fruits are poured into a large water tank. Mature and plump cherries sink to the bottom, while underdeveloped or overripe cherries float to the surface. These floating beans are removed. The selected coffee fruits are then dried on raised beds until they reach a raisin-like state, after which the pulp is removed while the mucilage is retained, followed by further drying.

In terms of flavor, the fermentation profile is more pronounced, and the flavor layers are richer and fuller. Moreover, the mucilage retention is higher compared to other honey processes. During the drying process, the coffee cherries must be continuously turned to ensure even drying. However, the frequency of turning needs to be carefully managed to allow for slow drying that ensures fermentation but avoids over-fermentation.

|   Variety (Yellow Catuai)

Yellow Catuai (Yellow Catuai; Catuai Amarillo) is a hybrid of Mundo Novo and Caturra, first cultivated in 1949 by Brazil’s “Instituto Agronômico de Campinas.” Like Red Catuai (Red Catuai; Catuai Rojo), Yellow Catuai has high disease resistance and is suitable for high-altitude and windy regions. Both Catuai varieties exhibit a clean and delicate acidity. When observing the green beans, they appear bluish-green and emit a strong tea aroma along with a subtle fermented scent.

Costa Rica Canet’s Musician Series includes Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach coffees. This year, the series has added a new coffee bean named Chopin. Unlike other flavor profiles, this Chopin coffee bean features a prominent rose floral aroma and a more noticeable sweetness.

|  Roasting Analysis

Roaster: Yangjia 800N semi-direct fire (roast batch size 300g)

Preheat roaster to 180°C, adjust firepower to 130, damper at 3. Turnaround at 1’36”, maintain firepower; at 140°C, keep firepower unchanged, damper at 4. At 5’20”, yellowing stage begins, grassy notes disappear, entering dehydration phase. At 166°C, reduce firepower to 110, damper remains at 4. At 176°C, adjust firepower to 80, damper unchanged.