The Chacón Solano Family
The Chacón Solano family has been producing coffee in the foothills of the Poas Volcano in Costa Rica for over 80 years. On their farm, Las Lajas, they maintain a rich tradition of coffee production while confidently embracing innovation. The result is a distinct, flavorful coffee that is prized around the world.
Located in north central Costa Rica, on the slopes of the Poas Volcano, Las Lajas is one of the few organically certified coffee farms in the country. The Chacón Solanos began farming organically in the early 1990s because of their dedication to preserving the health of their land and their family. Despite facing the technical and organizational challenges that keep many Costa Rican farmers from switching to organic production, they stuck to their ideals, and today it is apparent that their perseverance has paid off.
“It never ceases to amaze me,” commented Sustainable Harvest’s Jorge Cuevas after a recent trip to the farm, “how Las Lajas exists amid a sea of super-intensive, chemical-based coffee production. Plots surrounding Las Lajas clearly show depleted soils, stressed coffee trees and nothing else. Walking around Las Lajas’ forested slopes, vibrant coffee trees, and lively biodiversity brought it all home for me.”
The reason for Las Lajas’ vibrancy lies in the unique and innovative ways that the Chacón Solano family cares for their farm. They use compost and bocachi, a homemade, naturally fermented fertilizer, to keep their coffee plants healthy and maintain soil quality on their farm. They also implement soil conservation techniques. After the coffee is harvested, it is processed in hand-made artisanal mills that are uniquely suited to the needs of the farm and the land, minimizing water and energy usage.
The coffee from Las Lajas is called “honey coffee” because the production method creates a distinctly sweet and smooth cup, highly valued by coffee roasters and drinkers throughout the world. While Sustainable Harvest certainly enjoys the quality of a cup of Las Lajas coffee, we also take pride in being able to support a farm and a family with such a dedication to the health of their profession and their country.