Costa Rica Rojas Rola

Brew Guide

Variety

We are very excited to introduce you to this incredible coffee! Costa Rica is a producing country that is high on our list of favorites. Costa Rica is the only country in the world where it is actually illegal to produce any type of coffee other than 100% Arabica — the highest quality of coffee beans. From Arabica, is 70% of the worlds coffee production. Arabica is only 1 of about 120 species of Coffea and under Arabica lies about 30 very popular varieties. Though there are over an estimated 10,000 varieties growing wild in Ethiopia completely undiscovered.

Just as in wine varieties like Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, etc., each variety in coffee produces its own flavor profile. Some are sweet and complex, some have low acidity and a lot of bitterness. Others like the Gesha variety are know to taste more like tea than coffee, and others like a wild growing Ethiopian Heirloom are a complete mystery, though oftentimes they taste like a fruit bomb. Farmers often choose their varieties based not only on flavor but their tolerance to deadly diseases that can wipe out their entire operation. There are many other factors as to why farmers choose which variety such as climate/environment, genetic advantages, buying market, as well as resources and budget.

The variety in yourCosta Rican coffee is mainly Caturra. Caturra is distinguished by its bright acidity and low-to-medium body. It has less clarity and sweetness than its parent, Bourbon. This makes for the interesting sugar cookie-like sweetness and an oolong tea bitterness with a nuttier acidity. Though originally discovered in Brazil, these small trees are now often grown throughout Colombia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Country

As a light roast, Costa Rica coffees will taste very clean with a sweet, mild acidity. Flavor notes can range from honey and molasses to grape and citrus. Brew through a paper filter to highlight these bright flavors. As a medium roast, roasting the coffee a little more will emphasize a full body and a pleasant sweetness.

There are 8 major growing regions for coffee in Costa Rica, let’s take a quick trip to each of them…

West Valley: The dry and wet seasons are distinct from one another in this region. Flavor profiles have been described as peachy, honey, and with hints of vanilla. The climate isn’t too extreme at any point in the year. This is the region where your coffee is from. The popular notes of vanilla sound similar to the sugar cookie flavor in your coffee. The variety comes into play here to alter those peachy and honey notes into something that represents more of its characteristics like walnut and Oolong Tea.

Orosi: The coffee from this region has a more balanced profile, it’s like what we mentioned earlier when we mentioned that some people criticize that the coffee from C.R. is too balanced or plain, but some people love it, it’s a preference thing. The climate here is more on the humid side.

Guanacaste: This region is noted for its vast mountain terrain. It produces smooth coffee beans. The flavor has been described as having salty notes, with a light acidity and bitterness.

Tarrazú: This is the most desirable region. Beans from here make some of the most expensive cups of coffee at Starbucks, for example. Flavors include dried fruit, vanilla, orange, and chocolate.

Brunca: The climate in this region is tropical and humid. The flavor profiles you’ll find in Brunca have notes of citrus.

Turrialba: The active volcano here produces very fertile soils that grow relatively mild tasting and smelling beans, with very minor acidity. ‘Delicate’ would be a good way to describe it.

Tres Ríos: The soil here is also very fertile due to a volcano. Again, it offers light, balanced, and mild coffee beans.

Central Valley: The beans from this region are aided by distinct dry and rainy times of year. They have been described as balanced, and the flavor profile is on the chocolatey side, with unique fruit flavors.

Process

How the coffee is processed will have a dramatic effect on the resulting cup. This is often more important than the variety or country/region in our opinion. If a coffee has been fermented like a Natural Process, Honey Process, or Anaerobic Proccess, the original flavors of that producing region and variety characteristics can vary drastically. This is great for farmers that live in low altitude regions or don’t have access to other varieties/can’t produce good specialty coffee. If you can ferment the cherry, the bean inside will absorb those sugars and can turn a low quality coffee into an incredible one.

Nowadays roasters and baristas are concentrating on coffee processing to describe the coffee. Also, lately it has become more and more popular that the farmers have started to experiment with new coffee processing methods such as anaerobic fermentation.

The washed process (this is your coffees chosen process) leads to bright and acidic flavors in the cup. It's commonly highly appreciated among roasters and baristas due to increased complexity and cleaner cup profiles. This process is the least intrusive on the terroir - where the coffee actually came from. It is a crystal clear representation of the coffees variety and the location of where it was grown.

Many farmers or producers choose the washed process because properly done it reduces the risk of defects and is a more stable way to process coffee. On the other hand, it requires more water than other processing methods so it's more expensive for the farmers or producers.

Lets Get To Brewing!

Drip Machine/Automatic Brewer

These brewers are perfect for getting a consistent cup, time after time. Their low agitation, often great heat insulation, and long brew times are capable of getting high extractions more easily out of your coffee - which basically means more delicious flavor!

The main objective for a batch brewer is to achieve a uniform bed. When your coffee is finished brewing, looking at how flat your coffee bed is can tell you a lot about how your coffee is going to taste. Since water takes the path of least resistance, if there are any indentations in your brewed coffee bed, that water will have (over) extracted more in those indentations, resulting in increased bitterness, and it would have left the rest of the coffee under extracted, resulting in more sourness.

Getting an even coffee bed is essential to create a great well balanced coffee where acidity, sweetness, and bitterness are in perfect harmony.

Your grind size and setting is also essential for a good cup. Alter it as much as you can to achieve a flat bed, and if your bed still looks uneven, adjust your coffees ratio.

This information below has helped me to dial in new automatic brewers. Since most machines for home use won’t have a brew time control, try increasing or decreasing the amount of coffee you use (keeping the water amount the same) in order to produce a flat bed. This will change your brewing ratio but sometimes it is needed for an even extraction.

Everything but Espresso book by Scott Rao

Drip Recipe

Coffee to Water Ratio

Variable | 1:14-1:18.33 | I use 53 grams coffee to 975 grams water. If you’d like to brew less try 40 grams coffee to 650 grams water.

Even less would be 35 grams coffee to 500 grams water. This is purely a starting point, adjust to get a flat bed.

In The Cup

Your coffee should smell faintly like freshly baked cookies. I knew my first grind setting on my grinder was too fine when my cup instantly smelled astringent.

This cup tastes sweeter as it cools down. It has a very noticeable nuttiness reminding us of walnuts, and a wonderfully baked cookie-like undertone.

It is sweet and a very easy drinking, chug-able cup!

Tips

If you like drinking your coffee with cream and/or sugar, try lowering your brewing ratio to a 1:14-1:15 by using more coffee.

This will make your cup more concentrated and will help your coffee stand up to extra dilution and added flavors.

French Press Recipe

This recipe can change your life! The main difference with this recipe is you don’t plunge down!

It resembles the Cupping Method every roaster uses to taste their coffee and make adjustments to their roast.

The great thing about this recipe is once you find what grind setting works best on your burr grinder (if you have one, it’s a luxury), you never really have to change your grind setting for other coffees. This is a great way to taste the coffee and not have to brew 4 pour overs with different grind settings just to get a great cup.

Coffee to Water Ratio: 1:18.33 is my favorite. I use 30 grams coffee to 550 grams water. Though you can use any size you’d like with the same ratio.

A higher ratio like 1:18.33 will produce less body and more clarity

A lower ratio like 1:14 will produce more body and less clarity - this more concentrated beverage will also be best for adding milk and/or sugar to your cup.

Water Temperature: I use 200 degree water. You certainly can use higher 212 degree water, though it may extract some bitterness. Just make your grind a bit coarser.

0:00 | Pour all water, wetting all grounds

At 4:00 | gently stir top of crust (3x) - coffee will begin to fall down

Use two spoons to gently scoop remaining froth on top - Discard

8-15+ MINUeTs | Put Lid On (Don’t Plunge) - Gently pour out coffee - keeping all grounds stuck to bottom of brewer - stop pouring when the last of the coffee + sediment is about to leave brewer

The theory behind this brewing method is that when the coffee falls to the bottom, the extraction will stop. Only the coffee floating at the top will be extracting. After stirring and removing the froth, you can wait a few minuets or however long you’d like. The longer you wait ~10+ minuets, the less body and more clarity you’ll have. The shorter you wait, 6-8 minuets, the more body and less clarity you’ll have. More body is best if you like cream and/or sugar in you cup since many insolubles haven’t fell to the bottom yet and will definitely help your coffee stand up to the added dilution of cream and flavors.

Pour Over

This is where things can get a bit tricky. Different pour over recipes work best for different burr grinders. One recipe calls for “High Fines” producing grinders, meaning grinders that are often always cheaper (typically below $250 for hand grinders or often below $1k for electric grinders). Some grinders in the high fines category are the Baratza Encore and Niche Zero. The later recipe calls for grinders that produce a more unimodal particle size distribution. Some grinders in the low fines category are the EK43, Baratza Forte, Commandante hand grinder, and quite possibly the Fellow Ode.

I have spent a lot of time with both styles of grinders, and I believe it is best to brew different recipes that compliment each of their strengths.

01 High Fines Pour Over Recipe (conical and flat bottom drippers)

Coffee to Water Ratio: 19g coffee to 310g water

Water Temperature: 203 degrees

0:00 Bloom 50g - in 8 rotations (end pour at 0:08)

spin brewer gently 8x (Rao Spin is the name of this technique)

0:30 pour to 150g (end pour at 0:46)

1:00 pour to 200g (end pour at 1:08)

spin brewer gently 5x

1:30 pour to 250g (end pour at 1:38)

2:00 pour to 310g (end pour at 2:08)

spin brewer gently 3x

Your brew should drain below the coffee bed from 3:00-4:00+ for this coffee.

02 low fines pour over recipe (conical dripper)

This is a single bloom, single pour recipe. Once 0:30 hits on your timer, you wont stop pouring until the very end.

Coffee to Water Ratio: 25g coffee to 400g water