Costa Rica – Microlot – Las Lajas Micromill – Finca Calle Liles – Yellow Diamond – Honey

Taste: Jane’s sister’s granddaughter latched onto the name of this one and called it “the gem”, and so it is! Very fruit forward, bright and sharp with a fruity tartness reminiscent of fermented peaches and a lingering full mouthfeel.

Roast: Roast to medium (City Roast) to highlight the fruitiness or extend the development phase to bring out the richness this bean has to offer.

About: Oscar and Francisca Chacón are third-generation coffee producers, but the coffee is more than just in their family heritage: It’s in their hearts and souls as well. The couple is committed to quality and innovation, and are among the very first farmers in Costa Rica to produce Honey and Natural process specialty coffee.

In 2005, after years of delivering their cherry to a cooperative for the going market price, they decided to join the brand-new “micromill revolution” and buy their own depulper to have more control over the quality and the price they received for their lots. “At first, we didn’t know what we were doing,” Oscar explains. “We were just experimenting.” That experimentation led to some of the most exciting new flavor profiles we have ever tasted: Now, the Chacons produce a wide range of Honey process coffees, modulating the drying time in order to create different effects in the cup.

Necessity bred more innovation for the family when an earthquake in 2008 wiped out electricity and water to their area during the harvest. Unable to run the depulpers or to wash the mucilage off to produce Washed lots, Francisca took inspiration from her knowledge of African coffee production and quickly built raised beds on the property. Their Natural lots caught the attention of Cafe Imports’ founder Andrew Miller, and the rest is both history and our-story.

These days, Las Lajas focuses on several variations of both Honey and Natural process:

• Yellow Honey: Coffee is turned hourly on raised beds for a few days, then transferred to a greenhouse and turned regularly.
• Red Honey: Coffee is turned several times a day and dried for longer in the greenhouse.
• Black Honey: Coffee is turned once a day.
• Perla Negra Natural: Coffee dries directly in the sun for 10 days, rotating constantly, and then is transferred to bags and left for 2–3 days before being moved to raised beds.
• Alma Negra: Drying starts in the greenhouse for a few days. Then it is brought to the greenhouse and piled up at night and moved to the raised beds during the sunshine hours.

*Since 2018, they’ve been experimenting with a Honey-style process they are calling Diamond: The couple produces Yellow and Black Diamond lots. What makes the Diamonds different is that the drying requires closer attention than the other Honeys, as Oscar and Francisca want the temperature to stay very low throughout. First, the coffee is pre-dried on raised beds for one day, then moved to the drying patio where it is closely monitored for the duration. The Yellow Diamond takes 15–22 days to dry, and the Black Diamond a few days longer.

*Microlot Coffee Offerings: Farmers are paid quality premiums for any microlot coffee, which reflects the extra planning, effort, labor, and attention to detail required to produce them, as well as rewarding the ultimate job well done.

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