Roast level: Light Processing method: Black Honey Region: Sabanilla de Alajuela, Central Valley Mill: Las Lajas Micromill Farm: Finca La Julia Variety: San Isidro The Las Lajas Micromill is known for spearheading high quality special processing. Meticulous fermentation and quality standards make this cup stand out with notes of red licorice, blackberry, and cocoa. About Las Lajas and processing method: Oscar and Francisca Chacón are third-generation coffee producers, but the coffee is more than just in their family heritage: It's in their hearts and souls as well. The couple is committed to quality and innovation, and are among the very first farmers in Costa Rica to produce Honey and Natural process specialty coffee. In 2005, after years of delivering their cherry to a cooperative for the going market price, they decided to join the brand-new "micromill revolution" and buy their own depulper to have more control over the quality and the price they received for their lots. "At first, we didn't know what we were doing," Oscar explains. "We were just experimenting." That experimentation led to some of the most exciting new flavor profiles we have ever tasted: Now, the Chacons produce a wide range of Honey process coffees, modulating the drying time in order to create different effects in the cup. Necessity bred more innovation for the family when an earthquake in 2008 wiped out electricity and water to their area during the harvest. Unable to run the depulpers or to wash the mucilage off to produce Washed lots, Francisca took inspiration from her knowledge of African coffee production and quickly built raised beds on the property. Their Natural lots caught the attention of Cafe Imports' founder Andrew Miller, and the rest is both history and our-story. Black Honey process is where the cherries are pulped and transferred to raised beds. During the first 2 days, the beans do not receive any movement until the third day, when they begin to make periodic movements (3 to 4 times a day) to reduce the humidity of the coffee.