Las Lajas is a family-owned farm on the fertile slopes of the Poás Volcano in the Alajuela province of Costa Rica.

Over the last ten years, as more and more of Costa Rica’s coffee harvest fell under the control of large-scale operations and centralized processing, Oscar and Francesca Chacon did what they had to do to survive. They Got Smaller!

They joined an emerging movement of micro-millers, artisanal coffee farmers who are taking coffee production into their own hands. No longer content to sell their beans into large, pooled lots, these farmers are producing small volumes of high-quality beans and processing them in their own micro-beneficios. Through entrepreneurial spirit and experimentation, they are able to fine-tune the flavor profiles that are unique to their particular farms.

Along the way, Oscar and Francesca also decided to go organic. After years of hard work and commitment, Las Lajas achieved organic certification, but there were no organic-certified mills nearby. Building their micro-beneficio allowed them to produce coffee that was both deliciously unique and environmentally sustainable.