Finca Las Lajas

Francisca and Oscar Chacón have gone next level with their growing, processing and sampling. The farm is fully integrated now; they control their seed selection, agronomy, processing, tasting and grading, and dry milling. We have been buying coffee from Las Lajas for many years and the Perla Negra Caturra is one of our all-time favourite natural coffees on our counter. It was one of the first natural process coffees we bought (back when they were still considered fringe) and every year we select this coffee from our tastings. Francisca and Oscar concentrate on three processing methods: Natural, Honey, and Anaerobic. The cherry is handpicked, sorted, and cleaned before going through an electronic eye that measures the colour of the cherry. The colour determines if the cherry will be processed as first grade or second. From here the coffee is taken to be processed using one of their three methods, and then dried according to their requirements. Every aspect of the production is measured and noted. They collect an extraordinary amount of information and use it in collation with their tasting notes to determine how they process their coffee and how they grade it. Their work really is inspiring, and it has been noticed by the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre - CATIE). CATIE selected Las Lajas to be part of a pilot project for field trialling new varietals and they currently have ten varieties in cultivation and five more in trial. It’s exciting times at Las Lajas.