Coffee Varieties and Processing Methods in Costa Rica_Las Lajas Estate Raisin Natural

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Costa Rica Coffee SL28 Raisin Natural Process - Las Lajas Farm

By the way, sharing some recent Costa Rican coffee varieties and processing methods

If there are discrepancies with what everyone imagines, it's due to knowledge updates and generational changes

Costa Rica: A Famous Coffee-Producing Country in Central America

Costa Rica is a renowned coffee-producing country in Central America (quite an obvious statement). In my impression, I absolutely love the sweetness of Costa Rican coffee... But what does this have to do with Kenya's SL28 across the entire Atlantic Ocean? Natural process is natural process, but what on earth is raisin natural process?

Let's Talk About SL28 First

Everyone knows that the SL28 and SL34 varieties have been popular in Kenya on the African continent for many years (if you don't know this, you can look it up). The large beans come from the direct lineage of ancient Bourbon. Kenya's exceptionally high-phosphate soil cultivation has nurtured a unique "berry" flavor memory. Those familiar with it will certainly recognize that compared to Ethiopian beans with similar floral and fruity aromas, its distinguishability is incredibly high.

Despite being delicious to drink, it has low yield. In recent years, Kenya has been developing improved varieties, so the delicious SL28 is becoming increasingly rare - drink it once and there's one less time to enjoy it (here's a reminder to cherish it).

This Costa Rican SL28 is naturally also introduced from the same variety in Kenya. Even its homeland is so scarce, and this precious variety far from home has even less yield. The scarcer it is, the more expensive it is to care for... Therefore, in Central America, the price of SL28 sometimes even competes with the popular "Geisha" variety.

Costa Rica Las Lajas Farm

Transplanted across oceans, changing the soil, climate, altitude, and cultivation techniques. The flavor has also changed.

The flavor profile of this Costa Rican SL28 is described as:

Wine, blackcurrant, preserved fruit

Of course, with different roasting techniques from you master roasters, how to express the diverse and charming flavors, combined with your soulful brewing skills, is up to you to explore. As long as you like it, that's what matters!

Let's Talk About Raisin Natural Process

Among Costa Rican coffee processing methods, there's one particularly noteworthy "Raisin Natural Process"

Since this year's WBC World Championship showcased various oxygen-related post-processing methods (aerobic fermentation, anaerobic fermentation, co-anaerobic fermentation, and even the more outrageous XO processing method?), it seems coffee bean post-processing has entered a frenzied state. Led by honey processing, if we count them all, we don't have enough fingers. Besides the familiar red honey, black honey, yellow honey, golden honey, and other honey varieties, there have emerged diamond yellow honey, anaerobic honey processing, black pearl, black soul, etc... It seems there will only be more in the future.

The natural process group certainly hasn't been outdone and has started various natural processes. Everyone knows that red cherries are picked and placed on the ground or racks with their skin and pulp to dry, without going through washing tank fermentation. When dried completely, it's called: Full Natural Process

(Removing the skin and pulp, soaking and fermenting in the washing tank, then cleaning is called: Full Wash; containing a little or a lot of mucilage with its viscous texture, soaking and fermenting or fancy fermenting is called: Honey Process, also known as incomplete washing. Here, the thickness of the mucilage and the number of turns determine the various names of honey processing)

So what's the deal with raisin natural process? Let's first sort out the sequence:

Step 1: On the day of picking, fruits arrive at the processing plant at noon for cleaning, then are dried on African beds for 5 days, turned once every two hours.

Step 2: Shade-dried on concrete floors in shade structures for 10-15 days, spread 10-15cm thick. At this time, after drying for two hours during the day, they are covered with plastic sheets for semi-isolation from air, allowing them to release moisture inside the plastic, then open the plastic for intimate contact with air for two hours, after which the plastic is covered again. This process repeats over and over...

Step 3: At night, they are piled into small mounds and covered with black plastic sheets. Continue to ferment vigorously, sweetness rises, wine flavors emerge, come on, come on!

Step 4: When moisture drops to 11%, they are bagged and put into the warehouse, left unsealed at the top. During this time, moisture naturally drops to 10.5%. The entire process uses long-term shade drying. After processing, they look like raisins with sticky components covering the surface.

A state like preserved fruit, wanting to be so sweet, sweeter than first love...

About Farms and Organic Coffee

Las Lajas Processing Station

Las Lajas Farm is an officially certified organic farm in the central region of Costa Rica. This is a certification for using organic agricultural system management, without pesticides. Because no pesticides are used, more expensive biotechnology is chosen for disease prevention. During post-processing, organic fruits cannot use the same equipment for processing as non-organic fruits - it's that strict. (Currently, Las Lajas has applied for organic certification from Costa Rica, the European Union, and the United States - but not yet from China, so organic certification cannot be indicated in online sales)

It must be said that as the two most stable coffee-producing countries in Central America, Costa Rica and Panama must have coffee processing technology and equipment that are far ahead at the source.

Product Details

Product Name: Costa Rica SL28 2018 Latest Harvest Micro-lot

Processing Method: Raisin Natural Process / Costa Rica

Country: Costa Rica

Region: Central Valley / Central Valley

Farm: Las Lajas / Las Lajas

Altitude: 1550m

Batch Number: 815

Flavor Profile: Wine, blackcurrant, preserved fruit

FrontStreet Coffee Recommended Brewing Method: Pour-over

Filter: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: BG 5R (China standard 20-mesh sieve pass rate 58%)

Brewing Technique: Bloom with 32g of water for 32 seconds, pour water to 126g in stages. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 228g and stop. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the filter cup. (Timing starts from bloom) Extraction time is 1 minute and 50 seconds.

END

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