Why We Love This Coffee
Why is this coffee so good? There are two reasons. First is the processing expertise of Dona Francisca and Oscar Chacon. The Las Lajas micro mill and surrounding farms have been owned by the same family since 1948, so these third generation farmers have tremendous agricultural knowledge. They used to produce mostly honey processed coffees, as was the norm in Costa Rica, until an earthquake and subsequent water shortage in 2008 forced them to start producing natural coffees. They have become real experts at the process and always utilize careful cherry selection, meticulous sorting, and slow drying with frequent turning. The slightly modified processing this year with the additional anaerobic fermentation has unsurprisingly turned out great!
The second reason this coffee is so good is the variety, SL28. "SL" stands for Scott Laboratories. This was a British-backed research organization based in Kenya in the early/mid-1900s when Kenya was under colonial rule and did a tremendous amount of work selecting different breeds of arabica coffee. The goal was increased rust/disease resistance, tolerance to drought, high productivity, and high quality. SL28 and SL34 are the two most well-known varieties that came out of this program. SL28 is indeed tolerant to drought, has high productivity, and exceptionally high quality, but it is prone to disease. SL28 was really only found in any meaningful quantity in Kenya for many years, but farmers all over the world are beginning to experiment with small amounts of SL28 trees, as they do with other exceptionally high quality varieties like gesha and pink bourbon.
This is our fourth consecutive year purchasing this coffee and we absolutely plan to continue purchasing it every year in the future. This coffee is super juicy and expressive, with notes of blackberry, raspberry jam, plum, rum, and red wine. We really can’t emphasize enough how juicy it is! As is often the case with naturally processed coffees, we like this one a lot via all the standard brew methods like auto drip, pourover, French Press, etc but also as espresso. Enjoy!
Water Recommendation:
For those of you who want to get every last drop of excellence out of this coffee, our preferred brewing water (at least for cupping) is full-strength Third Wave Water (130ppm GH, 40ppm KH).
Full-strength Third Wave Water gives a very sweet cup with excellent acidity and origin character. Blackberry is one of our very favorite things to taste in coffee, and this water highlights the bright & sweet blackberry note the most.
Half-strength Third Wave Water (65ppm GH, 20ppm KH), which is nearly identical to Lance Hedrick’s Light & Bright water (60ppm GH, 25ppm KH), gives a much more acid-driven cup profile that somewhat lacks sweetness and complexity, at least in comparison to full-strength TWW. Not quite ripe raspberry is the dominant flavor note.
Rao/Perger water (90ppm GH, 42ppm KH) gives an excellent flavor profile that was just slightly less sweet compared to full-strength Third Wave Water, but perhaps slightly more nuanced. Depending on our mood, this could be our favorite water profile for this coffee.
Philadelphia water (Baxter water supply) filtered with a three-stage carbon system with a little softening (somewhat similar to what a Brita pitcher would do) also gives an excellent cup profile, very similar to Rao/Perger water, but there is a little more of a hint of generic “brown” coffee flavor.
If this is all very confusing—check out our blog post on water for coffee!
From Our Importer
“Dona Francisca and her husband Oscar Chacon of Las Lajas are 3rd generation coffee producers. They own and manage their micro mill, Las Lajas, and specialty coffee farms in different regions of the foothills of the Poas volcano in the Central Valley of Costa Rica. The Cumbres del Poas name comes from the area where the coffee is produced, the summits of the Poas volcano.
Oscar Chacon’s grandparents started what is now Las Lajas in 1948. Over time, Oscar and Francisca inherited the farms and therefore became coffee producers. In 2000, they started processing coffee themselves at the Las Lajas mill, largely focusing on yellow, red and black honey processed coffee.
However, on February 8, 2008, the Cinchona earthquake struck and significantly impacted the area. After a week without drinking water or electricity, they realized they needed to figure out how to process their harvest since they were unable to produce washed or honey coffee. Eventually, they decided to process the coffee naturally, resulting in their now famous Perla Negra coffee, coffee that has opened the doors to many markets for Las Lajas. The Perla Negra natural process is defined by selective harvesting of only the ripest cherries. These cherries are washed and moved to patios for drying, and are moved intermittently throughout the morning, then capped and covered in the afternoon and evenings. Cherries dry for between 22 and 27 days.
The Chacon family is committed to producing the best high-quality specialty coffee while focusing on environmentally friendly practices. During the harvest of their coffees, they measure the brix content in the coffee cherries to determine the best time to pick their coffees to obtain the utmost sweet and fruit forward profile. Additionally, water use at Las Lajas is minimal, since their coffees do not undergo the washed process. Oscar and Francisca are focused on sharing their knowledge and passion for specialty coffee with their four children, as they will eventually take the reins of the family business.”
