What is Fresh Roasted Coffee Costa Rican Tarrazu?
A plain, well priced Tarrazu from a roaster whose selling point is freshness.
Tarrazu is the valley south of San Jose that most people mean when they say Costa Rican coffee, and Fresh Roasted describes its version as a medium roast, mild bodied single origin. The bag prints its tasting notes as honey, baker's chocolate and bright, and the product page talks about bright acidity over sweet honey and chocolate with a medium body. The beans are 100% Arabica, OU Kosher certified, and come from what the roaster calls small micro mills and traditional cooperatives in the region, which it does not name.
It is sold whole bean or ground to drip, coarse or fine, in 12 oz, 2 lb and 5 lb bags, and it is the coffee Fresh Roasted readers have bought most often through this site's link. It sits on the Fresh Roasted Coffee roaster page with the rest of the range.
Roasted to order, and dated on the bag
The strongest thing Fresh Roasted publishes is not a tasting note. It is when the coffee was roasted.
Fresh Roasted Coffee roasts each order after it is placed, on Loring Smart Roasters at its base in central Pennsylvania, then packs and nitrogen flushes the bag straight away. Its shipping policy says coffee leaves one to two days after roasting, and orders placed after noon on a Thursday are roasted on Sunday night and shipped on Monday.
The roast date is printed on a white sticker on the bottom of every bag. It is written as a Julian day, the number of the day in the year, so day 272 is the 29th of September. It takes a second to decode, and the roaster's FAQ has the chart, but it means you can see exactly how old the coffee is, which most supermarket bags will not tell you. A best before date on a supermarket bag says when the seller stops standing behind it, not when it was roasted.
Why Tarrazu tastes the way it does
Region is the one origin fact Fresh Roasted gives here, and in Costa Rica it carries a lot.
Costa Rica grows almost nothing but Arabica, and Tarrazu's farms sit high on steep slopes where the cherries ripen slowly. Slow ripening is what builds the sugar and the bright, clean acidity the region is known for, which is why its coffee so often reads as sweet and lively rather than heavy. The country's mills mostly wash their coffee, and washed coffees taste cleaner than naturals, but Fresh Roasted does not say how this lot was processed, so treat that as typical of the region rather than a fact about this bag. Our guide to the coffee belt covers why altitude and latitude matter.
Price, and what a cup costs
The bigger bags are where Fresh Roasted gets properly cheap.
| Bag | Price | Per kilo | Per cup (15 g) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 340 g (12 oz) | $16.99 | $49.94 | $0.75 |
| 907 g (2 lb) | $34.99 | $38.57 | $0.58 |
| 2.27 kg (5 lb) | $64.99 | $28.66 | $0.43 |
Shipping is a flat $7.95 on orders under $50 and free above $50 once discounts are taken off, so two 2 lb bags or three 12 oz bags usually clear the threshold.
New to Fresh Roasted Coffee? Our link applies the code COFFEEGURU, which takes 20% off a first order of coffee or tea. It is for new customers only and does not apply to subscriptions.
A 5 lb bag is a lot of coffee for one household, around 150 cups, and even roasted to order it will be past its best before you finish it unless you freeze part of it. Our guide to storing coffee beans covers how. For most people the 2 lb bag is the sensible middle.
Fresh Roasted Tarrazu vs Volcanica Costa Rica Tarrazu
Same region, two different arguments for buying it.
The Volcanica Costa Rica Tarrazu is the other Tarrazu we review. Volcanica publishes more about the coffee: it is washed, Fairtrade Certified and Rainforest Alliance Certified, and its notes are apricot, juicy citrus and tropical fruit, a fruitier description than Fresh Roasted's honey and chocolate. It is sold in 1 lb bags only.
Fresh Roasted publishes more about the roast: it is roasted to order and dated, and it is sold in sizes up to 5 lb at a per kilo price few single origins here match. Choose Volcanica if the certifications matter to you. Choose Fresh Roasted if freshness and price per cup matter more.
Other ways to buy it
- Dark Costa Rican Tarrazu, the same coffee roasted darker, also $16.99 for 12 oz.
- Single-serve pods, $15.99 for 24, which Fresh Roasted says fit K-Cup brewers including Keurig 2.0 and K-Supreme.
- Espresso capsules, $7.99 for 10 aluminium capsules for Nespresso OriginalLine machines, not Vertuo. Our Original vs Vertuo guide explains the difference.
- Green beans, $12.99 a pound, if you roast at home.
Is it worth it?
Yes, if you want a fresh, dated single origin for everyday drinking at a supermarket price.
Most coffee at this price comes from supermarket shelves with no roast date at all. Here you get a named region, a date on the bag and a price that drops below 50 cents a cup in the larger sizes. What you do not get is the detail a specialty roaster publishes, the farm, the altitude and the process, and if those are what you pay for, this is not that coffee.
Who should buy it (and who should not)
Buy it if
- You drink a lot of coffee and want it fresh without paying specialty prices.
- You like a sweet, bright, medium roast rather than a dark or smoky one.
- You are a new customer and can use the 20% first order discount.
Skip it if
- You want certifications on the bag; the Volcanica is Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance.
- You want to know the farm and altitude; this page names neither.
- You like a heavy, dark cup; look at the dark roast coffees instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Fresh Roasted Costa Rican Tarrazu taste like?
Fresh Roasted prints honey, baker's chocolate and bright on the bag, and describes a medium body with bright acidity.
How fresh is Fresh Roasted Coffee?
It is roasted after you order and shipped one to two days later. The roast date is on a sticker on the bottom of the bag as a Julian day number.
Is Costa Rican Tarrazu good for espresso?
Fresh Roasted sells it as Nespresso OriginalLine capsules and in a fine espresso grind, so it is intended for both. A medium roast makes a brighter espresso than a dark one.
Is it organic?
No. It is OU Kosher certified, and Fresh Roasted does not claim organic or Fair Trade for this coffee.
Does the COFFEEGURU code work on it?
Yes, on a first order from a new customer, for 20% off. It does not apply to subscriptions.
