Climpson & Sons - Fields V18: Las Lajas, Costa Rica

The Fields is somewhat of a key player in our forward thinking and desire for experimentation at the roastery. This signature single origin harks back to our position in Hackney as an industry innovator and the London coffee scene as a whole.

The Fields enables us the opportunity to showcase exciting and expressive advancements at farm level, be it through new hulling/processing/drying methods, variety genealogy, agronomical experimentation, political or social change.

We are passionate about keeping our nose in all aspects of the coffee industry and aim to showcase our findings through the Fields - primarily focusing on Natural and Pulp Natural coffees, this single origin roast will continue to be an outstanding coffee in all brew methods with quality and innovation in mind, demonstrating new wave ideas and thoughts on all platforms of coffee production.

We are super excited to see the return of La Lajas as our newest Fields V18. A stand out on the cupping table, you can expect a tropical fruit punch from this Costa Rican coffee.

Dona Francisca and Don Oscar Chacon of Las Lajas micromill are third-generation coffee producers in their family. They inherited their farms from their grandparents which have been in the family for over 80 years. This coffee was produced at finca Calle Lilles and then milled as Las Lajas.

The family are known for being among the first to process high-quality Honeys and Naturals in Central America, and for participating in the Cup of Excellence auction in 2009. They grow varieties typical to Costa Rica such as Caturra, Catuai and Villa Sarchi however more recently they have introduced small exotic varietals such as the SL28 from Kenya. It will be very interesting to see the outcome with these experimental lots in the coming years.

Las Lajas is an organic micromill located in Sabanilla de Alajuela in the Central Valley region of Costa Rica. Organic coffee in Costa Rica is almost non-existent, and with this calibre of cup makes it one of a kind; they believe in the preservation of the environment hence their organic practices. Las Lajas processes coffee from their family farms’; these lots are fully traceable and separated by day. Water use is minimal, since the coffee is not washed. During the harvest, Francisca will measure the Brix content in the coffee cherry to determine the optimal time to pick the coffee. 21–22% Brix content has been the maximum they’ve seen.