Artisan Roast: Costa Rica, Sabanilla, Las Lajas Micromill, Honey Process

Costa Rica’s Central Valley is a web of roads that blur the lines of coffee farm and cityscape under the shadow of the Poás volcano. With such visible links between farming tradition and the modern dynamic Latin America it is little surprise that Central Valley coffees have a reputation for producing Costa Rica’s high-quality coffees with novel, forward thinking processing.

This innovation is characterised so well by the regions different styles of honey processed coffees - where retained fruit mucilage is processed with varying amounts of fermentation to create unique, exotic flavour profiles.

Las Lajas has been at the forefront of this advance, not only in the Central Valley, but also in Costa Rica. Owners Francisca and Oscar Chacón have been creating dynamic, fruit forward flavour profiles at their mill since 2005, changing the way we know and understand Costa Rican coffee.

Sabanilla is one of their small plots of land processed under the umbrella name of Las Lajas, and this vibrant, juicy, fruit forward red honey coffee is a joy to drink. Bold red berry fruits, pomegranate and morello cherry combine over a sugar syrup sweetness. The underlying acidity is bright, yet balanced and leads effortlessly onto a cheesecake like finish. Subtle hints of mango, vanilla and maple syrup come through as the coffee cools, adding more complexity to the aftertaste.

The roast has been kept medium to light, allowing the fruit like flavours to be at their most expressive. This means Sabanilla is best drunk as filter, aeropress or French Press.