Folio Nº 05 · Roasting for September 2026

Costa Rica · Red Honey

Las Lajas

Name: Folio Nº 05: Costa Rica Las Lajas Red Honey
Brand: Folio
Price: 24.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Lemongrass/Red Fruit/Chocolate

A red honey Catuaí from the Las Lajas micromill in Alajuela, and the first Costa Rica in the series. Floral and bright up front, chocolate and nuts underneath. The fruit shows up without shouting.

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The Folio Nº 05 bag, Costa Rica Las Lajas red honey, on a marble counter

The coffee.

Las Lajas is a family micromill in Sabanilla, Alajuela, run by Oscar and Francisca. They are third-generation producers, and our importer calls them among the very first farmers in Costa Rica to produce honey and natural process specialty coffee. This lot is Catuaí off Finca Chilamate.

The cup.

Higher acidity with a strong floral top, sitting on a full-bodied, nutty, chocolaty base. Fruit-forward, but not a fruit bomb. Our importer's range runs lemongrass to red fruit to chocolate with a smoky undertone, and puts the middle of the roast range as the spot where all of it shows up at once.

The issue.

Every bag is hand-stamped and numbered in the series. A QR on the back opens the full issue online: the story of the lot, how we roasted it, and a brew note. 250g, roasted fresh the week it ships.

What Folio customers say

“Impressively smooth and delicious. I love that I get to try coffee from new and different places.”Elizabeth K.

“This coffee is spectacular! What kind of black magic did you use to do this?”Ash W.

“You literally changed my morning with amazing coffee.”Brian T.

“I’m loving Folio. I’m really happy about the subscription - like you said, the fun is trying something new but now I don’t have to think about it.”Melissa S.

Why we chose it

Optional read

Two Costa Rican coffees made my shortlist. The other was a natural from Los Madrigal in Tarrazú, and on paper it read better: passion fruit, hibiscus, dried raspberry.

I bought the Las Lajas anyway, and the reason was process. Nº 03 was a natural, and running a second one three issues later felt like repeating myself. Oscar and Francisca are third-generation producers, and our importer calls them among the very first in Costa Rica to make honey and natural process specialty coffee. If we were going to put a honey in the series, this is where to get one.

It's also the first Costa Rica in the series, and only the second red honey. The first was the Menglian half of Nº 01, out of Yunnan. Another red honey, opposite side of the world, and if you kept that bag it's the comparison worth making.

How this became a Folio

The same questions, every issue

One coffee a month means we have to be sure about it.

We tasted a lot of samples, released one, and pulled the plug on the first roast of it partway through.

Read how we got there

The lot we bought

A red honey Catuaí off Finca Chilamate, processed at the Las Lajas micromill in Sabanilla, Alajuela. Red honey here means the cherry gets depulped with 100% of the mucilage left on the bean. It sits still the first day, then gets turned twice a day on raised beds for seven to fifteen days, and rests at least 60 days before it leaves the country. That schedule is the whole difference between red, yellow and black honey. Francisca built those beds after the 2009 Cinchona earthquake, and she was reading sugar in the cherry with a Brix meter to time the picking long before most farms bothered. Lot #0309, landed June 2026.

What we tested

The first one didn't work. Drum was still cool, it came in about two minutes behind at the first checkpoint, and I killed it. The second one is the profile: 680g on the Bullet, first crack at 8:00, dropped at 10:14, 583.2g out. My card said cut the heat once more right before first crack. I ignored it. Two cuts that close together and you can't tell which one you're feeling. The other three batches run the same card.

What we chose, and when to drink it

Medium, a click darker than Nº 04. I drop on temperature, not the clock: 27°F past first crack. Beans came out even and medium brown, no oil on them. That works out to about 22% development, lower than the 27% we ran on Nº 02, and it's on purpose. This lot cracks early. Stretching it would have baked the fruit right out. Our importer's read: super light goes lemony and unbalanced, dark goes nutty and chocolaty, and the middle is where you get all the layers at once. That's why we're here. Drink it early. Our importer found 2 to 3 days off the roast is already a sweet spot, with 4 to 9 the window. Shorter than the 7 to 10 we usually ask for on a filter coffee, so don't let this one sit.

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Las Lajas

The coffee.

The cup.

The issue.

One coffee a month means we have to be sure about it.

The lot we bought

What we tested

What we chose, and when to drink it

A numbered series.

We made 90 hand-stamped bags for our own wedding.

Jean-Marc & Nancy.

Las Lajas

The coffee.

The cup.

The issue.

One coffee a month means we have to be sure about it.

The lot we bought

What we tested

What we chose, and when to drink it

Not this coffee? Meet the next one.

A numbered series.

We made 90 hand-stamped bags for our own wedding.

Jean-Marc & Nancy.