Costa Rica Las Lajas San Isidro 48

ABOUT THE GROWERS: Costa Rica Las Lajas is a true masterpiece from Oscar and Francisca Chacón. They are third-generation coffee producers from the Central Valley region, and for them coffee is not just a family inheritance but a matter of heart and soul. In 2005, after years of selling their harvest to a cooperative at bulk prices, they made a game-changing decision. They joined the local micro mill revolution and founded their own Las Lajas micro mill so they could control the quality and price of the coffee they produce themselves.

At first, everything was an experiment. Yet those experiments led to astonishing results, and the Chacón family became one of the very first producers in the country to process speciality coffee using the Natural and Honey methods. The real innovation, however, was born of necessity in 2008, when an earthquake cut off power and water to the whole region in the middle of the harvest. As pulping or washing the cherries was impossible, Francisca remembered what she had learned about African coffee processing and quickly had wooden drying beds built at the farm. This is how the first fully Natural processed lots came about, putting the Las Lajas name on the world map. Today the family owns several farms, such as Finca Los Angeles, where this harvest comes from.

ABOUT THE PROCESS: This remarkable Costa Rica Las Lajas lot has been processed using the entirely unique Black Diamond Natural method. It is a careful and, above all, slow natural process that differs from the traditional Natural process. It all starts with an extremely strict harvest in which only the cherries with the very highest sugar content are picked out separately.

First, the cherries are left to dry on raised beds for one day. After that, they are moved to drying patios. The idea behind the Black Diamond method is exceptionally slow drying that lasts between 15 and 22 days. The temperature and turning of the cherries are monitored constantly. Oscar originally got the idea for this slow process from germinating coffee seedlings, where the seed is dried slowly without harming the embryo. The aim is to let the sugars in the fruit crystallise in the cool, undisturbed.

ABOUT THE VARIETY: The variety of this Costa Rica Las Lajas coffee is the locally developed San Isidro 48. It was bred at around 1600 metres in the San Isidro area of Grecia. It is a Sarchimor hybrid, and the number 48 refers to the variety's place in the breeding line.

From the grower's point of view, San Isidro 48 is an excellent choice. It produces medium-sized beans and has a very high yield potential. The plant is also hardy and copes well with environmental stresses such as frost, disease and coffee leaf rust. On top of all this resilience, it delivers very high-quality coffee in the cup.

The first thing to rise from the cup is a clear, juicy note of fresh plum and cherry. As the coffee cools a little, deep dark chocolate and a surprising but very pleasant soft hint of cola join the flavour profile. The coffee has an elegant, wine-like acidity that keeps the whole fresh. We recommend manual filter brewing, for this coffee so that its many-layered fruitiness and clarity come through at their purest. It also works beautifully as espresso, when the caramelisation of sugars from the slow drying comes to the fore and the flavour turns into liquid cherry chocolate.