Costa Rica Legendary Estate Las Lajas Perla Negra | Black Pearl

FrontStreet Coffee's Specialty Pick | Costa Rica Las Lajas Perla Negra

Las Lajas was one of the first estates in Costa Rica to move toward micro-batch production. In 2000, coffee prices in the country collapsed while farming costs kept climbing. Faced with a broken economic model, the third-generation owners of Las Lajas - the Chacon couple - made a bold decision: they converted the estate to organic farming and, in 2006, officially began producing micro-batch coffee.

In Costa Rica at the time, the conventional approach was to chase volume in exchange for better returns. Specialty coffee was barely a concept, and processing techniques were still rudimentary. For most farmers, running an organic estate while producing micro-batches sounded like madness - an idea that simply would not have crossed their minds.

The Chacon couple, however, refused to let hardship stand in their way. In 2008, a major earthquake knocked out water and power across Costa Rica for a full week - and it struck right in the middle of the harvest. Crisis, as the saying goes, breeds opportunity. The couple chose to dry their entire harvest using the natural method, and in doing so opened the door to years of experimentation with processing.

When the Chacons first shared their naturally processed coffee with local cuppers, nobody approved. Yet when they sent it to Andrew of Cafe Import, he loved it - and that endorsement opened a new chapter for Las Lajas.

What "Natural" Means, and How Perla Negra Got Its Name

Perla Negra - Black Pearl - is a naturally processed coffee. The term "natural processing" feels commonplace today, but in Costa Rica a few years ago, "natural" carried an entirely different meaning.

Back then, Costa Ricans used "natural" to describe overripe cherries that dropped to the ground and were later gathered and processed by farmers. Natural coffee, in other words, was seen as low quality. Yet the natural method practiced in Africa is a completely different model altogether.

To break free of those old assumptions, Las Lajas decided to give its coffees names. Beans processed in different ways received different labels - Black Pearl, Black Soul, Black Diamond, and so on.

Perla Negra Black Pearl

For the Black Pearl, the cherries are shaded with plastic covers during natural processing so that more of the coffee's delicate character survives. The freshly picked fruit is spread on African raised drying beds in the early morning and turned at regular intervals under the sun until the moisture content drops to 11.5%. The whole process takes roughly two weeks.

We first came across Las Lajas while studying in the UK, when a friend brewed a cup of Black Pearl roasted by Square Mile. It had a striking, bright acidity and a wonderful chocolate texture.

The Black Pearl we roast is a hybrid of Caturra and Catuai. In the cup it shows distinct tropical fruit aromas and solid chocolate notes, with a full yet remarkably smooth and gentle body.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If it is the natural process that draws you to Black Pearl, FrontStreet's Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry is a natural companion. Only fully ripe red cherries are picked, then dried whole on raised beds so the sugars in the fruit work their way into the bean. Roasted medium-light, it keeps the elegant florals and bright acidity of Yirgacheffe while adding ripe tropical fruit, a full fermented sweetness, and real depth.

For a bolder expression of the same idea, try FrontStreet's Colombia Xizhua. This lot goes through a double anaerobic natural process - sealed fermentation in tanks before sun-drying - which intensifies the fruit. Expect passion fruit, apricot, dried fruit, and grape, with an almond-like undertone and a dense, silky texture.