Costa Rica Las Lajas Nº 373

The Central Valley sits at the heart of Costa Rica’s coffee industry. Its high elevations, reliable rainfall and rich volcanic soils create ideal growing conditions, while producers have helped make the region known for some of the country’s most innovative processing methods.

Oscar and Francisca Chacón are third-generation coffee producers with a passion for quality and experimentation. They were among the first in Costa Rica to explore Honey and Natural processing for speciality coffee.

In 2005, after years of delivering their coffee cherries to a cooperative and accepting the market price, Oscar and Francisca joined Costa Rica’s growing “micromill revolution” and bought their own depulper. This gave them greater control over both the quality of their coffee and the price they could achieve for it.

Their experimentation took another step in 2008, when an earthquake cut off electricity and water during harvest, making it impossible to produce Washed coffees. Rather than stop production, Francisca drew on her knowledge of African coffee production and built raised drying beds on the farm. The resulting Natural coffees caught the attention of Café Imports founder Andrew Miller and helped establish the Chacóns as pioneers of innovative Costa Rican processing.

Today, they produce a wide range of Honey-processed coffees, adjusting drying times and conditions to create different characteristics and flavour profiles.

Honey processing is similar to the Pulped Natural method used in Brazil, but with an important difference: Costa Rican producers typically leave all of the sticky mucilage around the coffee seed during drying. After harvesting and sorting, the cherries are depulped and the coffee is dried on patios or raised beds. The drying time and conditions influence the final cup profile and determine whether the coffee is classified as White/Yellow, Red or Black Honey.

It’s this ability to experiment with processing that makes Costa Rican coffee so interesting. Producers like the Chacóns have helped push the boundaries, showing just how much flavour and character can be developed after harvest.