Costa Rica – Microlot – Las Lajas Micromill – Finca Sabanilla – Black Honey – Green – Archived

Taste: Sweet and mellow with a little wild berry tartness. This coffee produces complex flavors on the back of the tongue with a smooth mouthfeel.

Roast: We recommend Medium (City Roast) and extending the development phase to highlight the mellow sweetness.

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.

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

• White Honey: 80-100% mucilage removed
• Yellow Honey: 50-75% mucilage removed – Coffee is turned hourly on raised beds for a few days, then transferred to a greenhouse and turned regularly.
• Red Honey: <50% mucilage removed – Coffee is turned several times a day and dried for longer in the greenhouse.
• Black Honey: As little mucilage removed as possible – 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.

*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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