Las Lajas , Chacon Family, Costa Rica | Red Honey MUK-7921

Costa Rica is a small country, but the diversity of climates found there — and their impact on coffee production — has led to a coffee industry that punches well above its weight. The first coffee was grown in the Central Valley, a lush, fertile region influenced by Atlantic weather patterns. This is where Las Lajas coffee, which we have been buying since 2017, is grown by the Chacón family. Six farms — owned by six brothers and together comprising 73 ha — and a mill are located in the town of Sabanilla de Alajuela, on the slopes of the Poás volcano. The mill stands at 1,300 masl, with the farms above at 1,450–1,500 masl. The mill, which produces about 2,000 exportable bags per year, is owned and run by Oscar Chacón and his wife, Francisca, with help from their four children — the eldest of whom completed the second level of the Q Processing course in 2020. The Chacón farms are mostly run according to organic farming principles. Over time, it has become more costly and complicated to maintain official organic certification, and the family felt the certification no longer added sufficient value to their product. They have since allowed it to lapse, but organic principles remain central to their philosophy. Their production is chemical-free, pulp from the mill is composted and returned to the coffee plants, and their processes use only one cubic meter of water per day. Innovation is central to the farms, and the family has experimented with numerous coffee varieties. They now grow Caturra, Red and Yellow Catuai, Paraiso (a Sarchimor–Catuai hybrid), Milenio, Villa Sarchi, Geisha, Pacamara and SL28. The harvest runs from December to February, and after picking, cherries are floated using Penagos machines before processing. Honeys are first dried on raised beds in the sun and moved when the desired colour is reached — the longer the drying, the darker the honey. For example, black honey is not moved at all for the first two days after pulping.

https://falconcoffees.smugmug.com/COSTA-RICA/COSTA-RICA-Las-Lajas