Introduction:The Canet Estate in Costa Rica’s Tarrazú region produces the Bach coffee bean using the raisin honey process, resulting in a richly flavored Bacha coffee bean from the Yellow Catuai variety grown at an altitude of 1900 meters. This coffee is built on a foundation of red wine fermentation notes, blended with rose floral aromas and berry juice tones, making it ideal for coffee enthusiasts who enjoy exploring layers through pour over brewing. This article will detail the regional background, processing method, roast profile, and provide practical step-brewing parameters along with cupping notes.

The “Bach” coffee bean from Costa Rica’s Musicians Series is an impressive specialty coffee. Sourced from the Canet Estate in the Tarrazú region, it uses the Yellow Catuai variety and is processed via the raisin honey method, cultivated at an altitude of 1900 meters to develop deep and layered flavors. This coffee is renowned for its rich red wine fermentation character, which persists from grinding to brewing, with the fermented aroma of ripe grapes running throughout. In the mid-to-late stages, captivating rose floral notes and berry juice sensations emerge, while the finish carries a caramel-like sweetness — a coffee that balances both sturdiness and elegance.

Legend has it that the musician Bach composed the timeless “Air on the G String” under the extreme condition of having only one G string left on his instrument. Similarly, this Costa Rican coffee named “Bach” demonstrates a singular yet rich layering during cupping, as if performing a delicate G-string melody in the mouth — steady yet not monotonous, profound and full of emotion.

The Canet Estate (Finca Canet) is located in San Marcos, Costa Rica, within the renowned Tarrazú region. Covering just 5 hectares, it is jointly managed by the three Robles brothers: Leo, Elian, and Melvin. The area is not only famous for coffee but also one of the most densely planted fruit-growing regions in Costa Rica, with the estate cultivating many passion fruits. The Bach coffee bean introduced here comes from the highest-altitude planting section of the estate, where the unique geographical conditions provide the coffee with even greater flavor potential.

The variety of this coffee is Yellow Catuai (Catuai Amarillo), a hybrid of Catuai and Mundo Novo, first successfully cultivated in Brazil in 1949. Yellow Catuai is not only highly disease-resistant but also well-suited to high-altitude and windy environments, exhibiting clean and delicate acidity — a popular choice among many specialty coffee farms.

For processing, the Bach coffee bean uses the raisin honey method (Raisin Honey), an extremely challenging type of honey process. Its hallmark is retaining 100% of the mucilage without any water washing, placing very high demands on drying time control and environmental conditions. After harvesting, the coffee cherries undergo floatation to retain only fully ripe and plump ones, which are then placed on raised beds to dry for at least three days before the outer skin is removed, leaving the mucilage for subsequent drying. Throughout this process, climate conditions and turning frequency are crucial to ensure the mucilage ferments evenly without overheating or fermenting uncontrollably due to excessive slowness.

This processing method imparts intense fruity aromas and fermentation notes to the coffee, similar to other brands’ raisin honey processed offerings, such as the Strawberry Sugar · Geisha Blend and Mozart Series, which also showcase high sweetness and rich fruit tones. It is suitable for pour over or French press brewing, as well as various iced coffee preparations, demonstrating diverse flavor expressions.

In terms of roasting, a certain brand uses the Yangjia 800N semi-direct-fire roaster, processing about 300 grams of beans per batch. During roasting, the drum is preheated to 200°C for bean loading, with initial heat set to 160 and the air damper opened to 3. At approximately 1 minute and 36 seconds, the turning point is reached, and the heat is maintained. As the temperature rises, at 140°C, the heat remains at 160 while the air damper is adjusted to 4. Around 4 minutes and 50 seconds, the beans enter the dehydration stage, turning yellow and the grassy smell gradually disappears. By this point, the temperature reaches 166°C, and the heat is reduced to 135 while the air damper remains at 4.

At 8 minutes and 5 seconds, the bean surface shows wrinkles and dark speckles, emitting transitional aromas from toasted bread to coffee, signaling that first crack is imminent. At 8 minutes and 38 seconds, first crack begins, at which point the air damper is fully opened to 5, with the heat unchanged. Development continues for about 1 minute and 45 seconds after first crack, and the beans are dropped at 193.8°C, resulting in a balanced and layered roasted flavor profile.

Cupping results show that this Bach coffee bean emits intense fermented fruit aromas in the dry fragrance, while the wet aroma features distinct rose and fermentation notes. Upon tasting, a red wine-like fermentation sensation fills the mouth, followed by the interplay of red berry acidity and sweetness with rose floral notes, concluding with a mild caramel sweetness. The overall flavor performance is steady and varied.

If you’d like to try brewing this coffee at home, it is recommended to use a Hario V60 size 01 filter, with a dose of 15 grams, a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, and water temperature controlled at 90°C. The grind size is suggested to be medium-fine (approximately 81% passing through a Chinese standard 20-mesh sieve). The brewing method can adopt a step-brewing approach: start with a 30-gram bloom to allow the coffee grounds to absorb water and form a “hamburger” shape, blooming for about 30 seconds; then continue pouring with a steady medium-fine stream in circular motions, reaching a cumulative 125 grams by 55 seconds. Wait until the water level drops to two-thirds of the coffee bed, then pour again to reach 225 grams, with total extraction time around 1 minute and 50 seconds. This method fully highlights the grape-like acidity and fermentation characteristics at higher temperatures, as well as the berry juice tones and rose floral notes as the temperature drops, finishing with captivating caramel sweetness.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.