Costa Rica Las Lajas

Country - Costa Rica
Region - Central Valley
Farm - Las Lajas
Variety - SL-28
Proc. Method - Red Honey
Altitude - 1400 - 1600 msal
 
The cup:  Cocoa with mellow fresh hibiscus and caramel flavors. Tart acidity and mild cleanfruit-like sweetness.
 
Micromill: Las Lajas
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 theproperty. Their Natural lots caught the attention of Cafe Imports' founder AndrewMiller, and the rest is both history and our-story.Las Lajas owns and the followingfarms for cultivating their coffees: Calle Liles, Calle San Juan, Los Angeles, LosPinitos, Sabana Redonda, Sabanilla, San Luis, Calle Lajas.Here is a list of their mostcommon processes and what steps are taken to achievethem:ProcessDescriptionDrying TimeResting timeWhite HoneyThis is a semi-washed process, where the ripe beans brought from the farm are classified toobtain those with a high percentage of brix degrees, then depulped and themucilage removed mechanically. The coffee is immediately transferred to thegreenhouse patio for dehydration. During the first day of drying, movements arecarried out around 3 times until the end of this process; This being a mechanicaldemucilagenation, the seed maintains a certain amount of honey during the dryingprocess.From 3 to 4 days60 days or until exportation Yellow HoneyThis is a honeyprocess, where the ripe beans brought from the farm are classified to obtain thosethat are 100% ripe, then they are depulped and immediately transferred to raisedbeds. During the first day periodic movements are made (3 to 4 times a day), thiswith the aim of reducing the humidity of the coffee. This is an extremely fast dryingprocess.One week60 days or until exportation Red HoneyThis is a honey processwhere once the ripe beans have been classified, they are pulped, leaving 100% ofthe mucilage and then transferred to raised beds. On the first day of drying, thebeans do not receive any movement until the second day, when they begin tomove twice a day, to reduce the humidity of the coffee.From 7 to 15 days60 days oruntil exportation Black HoneyThis is a honey process where the cherries mustfirst be classified and then pulped and transferred to raised beds. During the first 2days, the beans do not receive any movement until the third day, when they beginto make periodic movements (3 to 4 times a day) to reduce the humidity of thecoffee.From 15 to 20 days60 days or until exportation Alma NegraIt is a naturalprocess, where the coffee fruit are first classified to obtain those 100% ripe cherrieswith a high level of brix degrees. Later they are placed on a raised bed for theirdehydration process for at least a week, where they will be removing several timesa day. After a week has passed, the cherries are transferred to the greenhousepatio, where during the day they are kept in a thin layer to absorb the heat of thesun and during the night they are collected in the form of a mound. This same process is repeated the next day until drying is complete.From 20 to 30 days60days or until exportation Perla NegraThis is a natural process, where the ripecoffee beans with a high percentage of brix degrees are taken to raised beds wherethey will be in a thin layer receiving the sun, after a week the beans will rest in theshade (cold ) to be later transferred to the greenhouse patio to continue itsdehydration, in which the cherries are moved twice a day, which makes it anextremely slow drying process.From 22 to 30 days60 days or untilexportation Yellow DiamondThis is an Anaerobic Honey process, in which, afterselecting the cherries with high brix degrees, they are depulped, leaving them with100% of the mucilage, immediately transferred to an anaerobic fermentation tank,where it rests for around 84 hours. Once the fermentation time is over, the coffee istaken to raised beds for dehydration, stirring it twice a day until the drying processis completeFrom 15 to 20 days60 days or until exportation Black DiamondThis isa natural aerobic process, where once the cherries are harvested, they aretransferred to the mill for their classification, where only those with a highpercentage of brix degrees are chosen. After this they are transferred to thegreenhouse patio for their dehydration. During the first week the cherries areplaced in a thick layer, in order to ferment aerobically. After this first week the coffeeis spread in a thin layer until the drying process is finishedFrom 20 to 30 days60days or until exportation.

 
Process: Red Honey Las Lajas Micromill - Finca Carrizal - SL-28 - Red Honey
The Red Honey process is a specific process initially developed by Las Lajas. Freshly harvested and sorted cherries are
delivered to the mill and promptly depulped. After this, the coffee is transferred to a covered patio where it is turned several
times a day until the drying process is complete. The color of the parchment is a direct result of the depth of coffee when
dring.