Costa Rican Las Lajas Estate SHB Honey Process Flavor | Production Differences between Natural, Washed, and Honey Processing

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Las Lajas Estate SHB Honey Process Flavor | How Do Natural, Washed, and Honey Processing Differ?

Las Lajas Estate, run by the Chacon family for three generations, is a beautiful coffee farm with its own ecological processing plant, set on the fertile hilly terrain of Poas Volcano in the Central Valley. Since Francisca Cubillo Salas took over management in 1990, she has committed herself, distinctively and inventively, to establishing natural-conservation organic agriculture, and in 2000 the estate became one of the few officially certified organic coffee estates in Costa Rica. The high-quality coffee it produces has earned a strong reputation in the market.

The family believes organic farming is the better choice for environmental protection and for the health of their family members. Despite many technical and organizational challenges, they hold to that belief. Establishing a naturally shaded estate through organic cultivation is a long-term investment, using native trees for shade. No chemical fertilizers or pesticides are used; instead, natural homemade compost builds crop nutrients while soil and water conservation are maintained across the farm.

Typically it takes three to five years of this organic approach, until analysis of soil, branches, leaves, and fruit shows no regulated chemical substances, before the farm can be truly recognized as organic. The estate harvests only fully ripe, high-quality cherries, uses water-saving processing, removes the outer skin with a pulper, and places the parchment beans with their mucilage on so-called African drying beds for sun-drying.

Maintaining appropriate air circulation during drying produces sweeter, cleaner coffee. Waste residues from processing are recycled as pulp and fertilizer to keep the ecological balance intact.

Flavor Profile

Honey, caramel, and nutty aromas, honeyed plum, preserved fruit, vanilla, and wine aromas, a rich flavor with a long aftertaste.

Coffee Information

• Country: Costa Rica
• Region: Central Valley
• Grade: SHB
• Producer: Las Lajas Estate
• Processing Method: Honey Process
• Varieties: Caturra, Catuai
• Altitude: 1,300 to 1,500 meters
• Harvest Period: December to February

Coffee Processing Methods

The main processing methods fall into three categories: natural, washed, and honey. The natural process dries whole coffee cherries before removing the outer skin and mucilage layer; the washed process removes the pulp before drying and uses fermentation to break down the mucilage; the honey process sits between the two, removing the pulp but leaving the mucilage in place to dry.

The term "honey process" leads many people to think the method uses honey to treat the coffee, or that coffee made this way tastes as sweet as honey. Neither explanation is correct. The name comes from the very sticky mucilage layer around the beans before drying, which feels like honey. When the pulp separates from the beans, the surrounding mucilage, once exposed to air, absorbs moisture and turns sticky.

When the pulp is screened out, a mucilage layer remains around the beans. The honey process began when someone saw that it could steadily improve the quality of their coffee. It originated in Costa Rica, and the method is now widely used.

So why did Costa Rican farmers first consider the honey process? When farmers want to improve their coffee's quality or price, they have three choices: change the tree variety, change the cultivation altitude, or change the processing method. Most people brewing coffee reach first for simpler levers such as grind size and dose, then adjust the machine's water volume, pressure, and temperature. In the same way, most farmers prefer to change the processing method before considering new tree varieties or relocating the estate, both of which demand time and money.

The Honey Process: Time-Consuming and Meticulous

The honey process is not simple. It takes a long time and must be handled carefully. So what does it involve?

First, farmers select ripe cherries from the trees, then screen out the outer pulp and keep the mucilage layer around the beans, as described above. That mucilage layer holds a high proportion of sugar and acidity, and those sweet and acidic components are the key to the honey process.

The next step is the most complex and painstaking part of the honey process: drying. Timing must be well controlled, and duration is critical. If drying is too short, the substances from the mucilage layer cannot transfer into the beans; if it runs too long, the beans can ferment internally and turn moldy. The work must move quickly.

So how do you strike the balance? The beans are spread on sun-drying beds or concrete floors. For the first few days they must be turned several times every hour until the required moisture content is reached, which usually takes 6-10 hours. Over the next 6-8 days they need to be turned at least once a day. It is very time-consuming. The reason honey-process sun-drying takes so long is that every night the beans absorb moisture from the air, so the next day demands more drying time.

Once drying is complete, the coffee is nearly ready for the hulling and roasting that other methods also call for. Honey-processed coffee generally has an excellent balance of sweetness and fruit acidity. Its flavor is usually not as heavy as a natural, but fresher and more mellow. The difference comes from the sugar and acidity in the mucilage layer: during drying the sugar in the mucilage becomes increasingly concentrated, and those sugars penetrate into the beans.

Yellow Honey, Red Honey, Black Honey - What's the Difference?

When you buy honey-processed coffee, you usually see yellow honey, red honey, and black honey. You may have heard that these retain different percentages of the mucilage layer, but what does that really mean?

Farmers sort the coffee accordingly, some keeping less mucilage for faster drying and others keeping more mucilage for a longer dry. Yellow honey (about 25% mucilage retained) must dry in the least shaded environment (clouds, shade trees) so it finishes faster, which gives it a yellow appearance. Red honey (about 50% mucilage retained) takes longer and needs some shade while drying. Black honey (about 100% mucilage retained) usually has to be covered during drying to extend the time.

Which is Better: Yellow, Red, or Black Honey?

Some argue black honey is superior. The flavor of a honey process is subtly and deeply shaped by the residual sugar from the mucilage layer: the more mucilage retained, the richer the flavor. (This is the original author's view. Coffee Seedling holds that each processing method has its own distinct flavor, and preference varies from person to person.) For producers, though, there is another business calculation. Black honey can yield better quality and higher-priced coffee, but the risks and costs rise sharply, which can affect a farmer's willingness to use it.

The longer coffee dries, the more likely bacteria will develop during fermentation and cause defective moldy beans. Those beans need more frequent turning and occupy more drying space, up to twice as much as yellow honey. It is not only about producing high-quality coffee; it is also about helping farmers produce the most profitable coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommends Brewing

• Dripper: Hario V60
• Water Temperature: 90°C
• Grind Size: Fuji Royal grinder setting 3.5
• Brewing Method: A water-to-coffee ratio of 1:15 with 15g of coffee. First pour 25g of water for a 25-second bloom. Second pour up to 120g, then stop. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to halfway before continuing, slowly pouring to a total of 225g. Extraction time is about 2:00.

Analysis

A three-stage pour clearly separates the front, middle, and back-end flavors of the coffee. Because the V60 has many ribs and drains quickly, stopping the water flow extends the extraction time.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

For anyone who wants to taste how far the honey process can be pushed, FrontStreet Coffee's honey-processed line is a strong place to start. The FrontStreet Costa Rica Blackberry uses a black honey method that keeps almost all of the mucilage and dries for at least two weeks under cover, yielding grape, berry, and ripe blackberry notes. The FrontStreet Costa Rica Mozart takes it further with a raisin-honey process that retains 100% of the mucilage, bringing osmanthus, pineapple, and raisin aromas to pour-over, cold brew, or moka pot.

If a blended, fruit-forward cup is more your style, the FrontStreet Strawberry Candy pairs a Panama Geisha with a 100% mucilage, zero-water Costa Rican coffee for a floral, raisin, blueberry, and almond profile.