COSTA RICA: LAS LAJAS

Tastes like

Strawberry Pie

Graham Cracker

Dark Chocolate

Plum

Strawberry pie, graham cracker, dark chocolate, and plum. Las Lajas developed this process. The cup shows why.

Rich and layered, with strawberry pie sweetness up front, warm graham cracker depth through the middle, and dark chocolate and plum pulling the finish into something complex and satisfying. Black honey at its most expressive.

Farm

Las Lajas

Producers

Oscar & Francisca Chacón

Region

Central Valley

Country

Costa Rica

Variety

San Isidro

Process

Black Honey

The coffee

Las Lajas was among the very first farms in Costa Rica to produce Honey and Natural process specialty coffee, and Oscar and Francisca Chacón built that from nothing. Third-generation coffee producers, they had spent years delivering cherry to a cooperative for the going market price. In 2005, they joined the brand-new micromill revolution and bought their own depulper to take control of quality and what they were paid for it. The experimentation that followed produced some of the most exciting flavour profiles the region has ever seen. San Isidro is the variety they grow here, developed in Grecia, Costa Rica at around 1600 to 1700 metres. Hardy, high-yielding, and capable of exceptional cup quality, it is well-suited to the Chacóns' approach.

Origin

The Central Valley is the heart of Costa Rica's coffee industry and the place where its most progressive processing has taken root. High elevation, volcanic soil, and well-defined wet and dry seasons create conditions that reward both careful farming and experimentation. Costa Rica has a longer coffee history than any other Central American country, with commercial exports dating to the 1820s, and the national coffee institute Icafe has been supporting producers since 1933. Among other protections, Icafe guarantees that contract terms ensure farmers receive at least 80% of the FOB price for their coffee. In the Central Valley, producers have taken that foundation and pushed forward.

The farm

Oscar and Francisca Chacón did not set out to change Costa Rican coffee. They were just trying to do things better. After years of handing their cherry over and taking the price they were given, they decided to process their own lots and see what they could do. The early days were trial and error. Then in 2008, an earthquake knocked out electricity and water to their area mid-harvest. Unable to run the depulpers or wash the mucilage off to produce Washed lots, Francisca drew on her knowledge of African coffee production and built raised beds on the property to dry the cherry whole. The Natural lots they produced that season caught the attention of Café Imports' founder Andrew Miller. From that point, Las Lajas has been one of the most talked-about micromills in the country.

Process

Black Honey is a process Las Lajas developed, and it is one of the most carefully managed in Costa Rica. Freshly harvested cherries are sorted, depulped, and transferred directly to raised beds with the mucilage intact. For the first two days they are left completely undisturbed, allowing a slow, controlled fermentation to begin. From the third day onward they are turned three to four times daily to reduce humidity gradually and evenly. The total drying time runs fifteen to twenty days. The result is a coffee with the sweetness and fruit complexity of a natural, but the cleanliness and definition of a washed lot.

Brew it your way

Outstanding on filter, where the layers have room to come forward. On filter at 1:16, the strawberry pie sweetness and plum depth come through clearly, with the graham cracker and dark chocolate giving the cup a satisfying richness underneath. Pull it as espresso at a 1:2 ratio in 28 to 32 seconds for something concentrated and fruit-forward that is hard to put down.