Costa Rica Las Lajas Coffee - Costa Rica Las Lajas Estate Geisha Coffee

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FrontStreet Coffee - Costa Rica Las Lajas Red Honey Geisha Introduction

Since its discovery in the Geisha Mountains of Ethiopia, this highly promising variety has been on a long journey. Before it became famous in Panama, it passed through many countries, among them Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Costa Rica—and it was in Costa Rica that the renowned Las Lajas Geisha was brought back into cultivation.

Costa Rica Las Lajas Red Honey Geisha

Variety: Geisha

Processing Plant: Adam Processing Plant

Processing: Red Honey Processing

Altitude: 1550 meters

Flavor: Longan, fruit juice, maple syrup

The farm is owned by Oscar Chacon and Francisca Chacon and sits at 1,550 meters. Run by the Chacon family, Las Lajas is a certified organic farm in the central region of Costa Rica, managed without pesticides. A university in the United States sends students every year to study and experience the farm's organic ecosystem. Because no pesticides are used, the farm relies on relatively expensive biotechnology for disease prevention. In 2000 the family pioneered sun-dried processing in Costa Rica. The processing plant runs two separate systems.

One set of equipment handles the farm's own coffee fruit. Because that fruit is organic, it cannot be processed together with other coffee on the same equipment. The second set of equipment is used to provide contract processing for neighboring farms.

About FrontStreet Coffee

In short: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research café that enjoys sharing coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation to help more friends fall in love with coffee. We also hold three discounted coffee events every month, because FrontStreet Coffee wants to bring the best coffee at the lowest prices to more friends. That has been FrontStreet Coffee's principle for the past six years.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Honey processing is where Costa Rica made its name in specialty coffee, and it pairs naturally with Geisha. FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy is a blend built from Costa Rica honey-processed coffee and Panama Geisha, so the cup carries both the fine florals of Geisha and sweet fruit. The Costa Rican component uses a raisin honey process that keeps 100% of the mucilage and avoids washing entirely: on the day of harvest the cherries go into a large water tank, where the ripe, dense fruit sinks and the underdeveloped or overripe fruit floats and is skimmed off. The selected cherries then dry on raised beds for at least three days before the skin is removed, and drying continues with the mucilage still on, with constant turning for evenness. The result in the cup is Geisha's floral tea character alongside grape and raisin, soft fruit acidity, an almond finish, and clear sweetness.

If you want to explore Panama Geisha directly, FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Boquete Geisha is the accessible entry point—an entry-level Geisha showing the classic Panama orange-blossom honey character, an oolong tea sensation, and layered fruit acidity at a friendly price. For the highest grades, FrontStreet Coffee's Esmeralda Red Label and Green Label Geisha come from the estate that made the variety famous: the Red Label, or Esmeralda Special, grows at 1,600–1,800 meters with every lot cupping above 90 points and carrying its own number, while the Green Label blends several plots to offer the estate's signature high-altitude Geisha character at a lower price.

Ethiopia offers a brighter expression of the same variety. FrontStreet Coffee's Grana Gesha comes from a single-variety farm near Yirgacheffe at the junction of Kochere and Grana Abaya. The cherries are hand-picked fully ripe and dried on raised beds for 14–20 days, and after a medium-light roast the coffee shows bright citrus acidity, elegant ginger flower, and ripe fruit sweetness with a delicate, silky body. Geisha's dense beans tend to sink and block the drain hole, so FrontStreet Coffee suggests grinding to 78% passing a China-standard No. 20 sieve—about fine caster sugar—and brewing at 91°C: 15g in a small Hario V60 at 1:16, poured to 30g for a 30-second bloom, then in small circles to 125g, then to 225g once the bed drains halfway, for a total of about 2:10 to 2:20.