Central American Coffee Growing Region - Introduction to Costa Rica Las Lajas Estate SL28 Raisin Natural Process

Costa Rica Las Lajas Estate SL28 Raisin Natural

Francisca and Oscar Chacón, a husband-and-wife team, are the third generation to run Las Lajas, an estate at the foot of Poás Volcano in Sabanilla de Alajuela, in Costa Rica's Central Valley. The Chacón family has farmed coffee for more than 80 years, since Oscar's grandfather's day. In 1995, Oscar's father died of cancer, and the family suspected the farm's chemical fertilizers and pesticides were to blame. From that point on, they stopped using toxic agrochemicals entirely, built their own organic compost, and extended organic discipline to soil management, shade trees, and the wet mill itself - native forest shade and fully natural farming.

After five years of organic cultivation, once soil, branch, leaf, and fruit analyses all came back clean, Las Lajas became the first certified organic estate in Costa Rica in 2000. The estate now holds Japan's JAS certification along with America's USDA and NOP certifications. With certification in hand, the Chacóns went a step further and built their own processing plant. Previously they had no choice but to send their cherries to large commercial mills with no control over post-harvest handling; owning their own mill dramatically raised overall quality.

The Innovative Raisin Natural Process

Raisin Natural combines elements of the Black Pearl and Black Soul protocols. The whole process involves shade drying for roughly three weeks or more. First the coffee is spread flat on cement surfaces inside a greenhouse, then heaped into small hills in the afternoon and covered with plastic sheeting; the next morning it is flattened out again. After about one to two weeks, the coffee moves to African drying beds under the greenhouse shade. These beds consist of two sets of three layers each, and the coffee is rotated daily - top to bottom, left to right - so everything dries evenly. The extended fermentation this allows greatly boosts sweetness and flavor complexity.

Costa Rica Las Lajas Estate SL28 Raisin Natural

Region: Central Valley

Altitude: 1,300-1,500 meters

Variety: SL28

Soil Type: Volcanic soil

Grade Standard: SHB

Processing Method: Raisin Natural Process

Harvesting Method: Hand-picked

Certifications: JAS, NOP, USDA

Estate Established: 1840

Planting Area: N/A

Estate Size: 38 hectares

Average Temperature/Rainfall: 20°C/2,500-2,700mm

Dry Aroma: Walnut, cream, blueberry

Wet Aroma: Wine, blackcurrant

Tasting Notes: Ripe grapes, plums, lychee, caramel

Knowledge Point: In 1729, coffee trees were transplanted from Cuba to Costa Rica, opening the chapter of Costa Rican Arabica cultivation.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the Raisin Natural process intrigues you, it's worth exploring the wider family of extended-contact processing styles. FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rica Blackberry is a black honey coffee - nearly all of the mucilage is left on the bean through a drying period of at least two weeks under shade covers, turned regularly to prevent uneven drying and over-fermentation. Roasted medium-light, it's intensely floral on the nose and delivers grape, berry, and ripe blackberry flavors in the cup.

For an even more adventurous honey process, try FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rica Mozart from the Musician Series, made with raisin honey processing: the cherries are pre-dried whole on raised beds for at least three days before the skin and pulp are removed, with 100% of the mucilage retained. The result is a cup of osmanthus, pineapple, and raisin sweetness that works as pour-over, cold brew, or even moka pot coffee.

And if you'd like to taste honey processing blended with Geisha elegance, FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy combines Panama Geisha with Costa Rica raisin honey coffee - rose-like florals and citrus from the Geisha, grape, dried blueberry, and strawberry-candy sweetness from the honey lot, with gentle acidity and an almond finish.