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Posts Tagged ‘Costa Rica’

Roasting Gourmet Coffee Beans in Costa Rica

Sunday, January 9th, 2011

There are a few small mountain farms in Costa Rica that produces a limited amount of exceptional coffee beans each season. Learn the technique to roasting organic coffee beans in Costa Rica. Once the processing is complete the green coffee beans are shipped, and carefully stored until it is time to roast them. Green coffee beans are very stable and can be stored for a period of time without being adversely affected. However, once you have roasted your gourmet coffee beans, they need to be enjoyed as soon as possible.

There are three favorite roasting profiles that most people request. These profiles also compliment the chemistry of the mountain grown Arabica beans. The lightest roast, American medium, is perfect for a majority of consumers. This roast will create a medium colored bean with no oils on the surface. It is a perfect roast level for the “cupping” experience. Cupping is similar to a wine tasting and you need a roast that reflects all of the subtle flavors of the bean. The next profile is called “Full City” and results in a medium dark roast. This roast will have more body, slightly less acidity, and slightly less caffeine. The beans appear dry on the surface, but as they “degas” the oils in the bean will be pushed to the surface it will become lightly dappled with oil. The taste is very well rounded, subtly sweet, and extremely pleasant.

The darkest roast is a “Vienna” roast. Some roasters consider this roast to be a medium dark roast, although it is quite dark and during the “degassing” period the surface of the bean will become completely oily. This is the highest temperature roast and the flavors become more focused and the sugars in the beans will slightly caramelize. This roast level creates a very full bodied coffee with a sweet and slightly chocolate taste with no bitterness. Many coffee lovers like to finely grind this roast and make espresso from it. Having fresh roasted gourmet coffee beans really make a difference.

Essentials For Costa Rica Real Estate Investment

Thursday, November 25th, 2010

Costa Rica is a small nation in Central America. The main demography includes four major provinces together into one area that is San Jose, Heredia, Alajuela and Cartago together form it. San Jose is the capital city of Costa Rica. It is a great place for business development and also offers excellent services and facilities for both tourists and the locals. In recent years, Costa Rica’s reputation as the tourist destination has changed to the easiest country to invest in real estate – i.e., purchase properties in the entire region of Central America. The political solidity and strength of the country enables to minimize the amount of revelations, while there are abundant unwritten resources available.

The real procedure for investing in real estate is quite similar to that of the United States that has an authorized title and survey essential for almost all dealings. Title insurance can be easily available. As far as the agents are concerned possessing a license is not mandatory. But the Costa Rica Chamber of Real Estate Brokers (CREB) and other panels are planning to bring basic levels of standards into the industry. It is very general for the investors to formulate a Costa Rican limited liability corporation in order to tackle property deals. However, the communal organization can help ease this procedure by avoiding the fee. Once a transaction is complete, property taxes become relatively less generally not more than 1 percent of the property value. What is best of all is that there is no capital profits tax.

The dealings become a little difficult only when an investor wants buy homes or buy apartments that are directly on the alongside of the waterfront – i.e., the maritime region or zone. Here the construction and tenure is strictly controlled. There are no private beaches available in the zone. Any property that lies within 150 meters of the waterfront is known as concession land. There are a lot of constraints and restrictions around this region on foreign ownership.