Costa Rica Las Lajas Alma Negra

Tastes Like: Peach Compote, Passionfruit, Vanilla Bean

Micromill    Las Lajas
Process    Alma Negra
Variety    Catuai
Elevation    1400-1600 MASL
Region    Sabanilla de Alajuela, Central Valley
Country    Costa Rica

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.

It is a natural process, where the coffee fruit are first classified to obtain those 100% ripe cherries with a high level of brix degrees. Later they are placed on a raised bed for their dehydration process for at least a week, where they will be removing several times a day. After a week has passed, the cherries are transferred to the greenhouse patio, where during the day they are kept in a thin layer to absorb the heat of the sun 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.