Mexico / Sampieri Family - Finca La Laja
Coffee from Finca La Laja, owned by the Sampieri family since 1980, is cultivated under shade, primarily with Caturra and Garnica varieties, with planting densities ranging from 2,000 to 2,500 shrubs per hectare. They have sought new flavors and experimented with different processing methods, including the honey process that produced this lot.
The result of the Sampieri family’s efforts is a balanced taste with notes ranging from floral, lemon, and black tea to brown sugar, almond, and milk chocolate, with a soft and creamy mouthfeel.
Roast Level: Medium
Tasting Notes: Honey Mead, Assam Tea, Black Plum
BUY ONLINE, PICKUP IN STORE!
Learn More About This Coffee
Varieties: Caturra
Growing Altitude: 1,130 - 1,250 masl
Processing Method: Honey
The Sampieri family has been growing coffee in the fertile soil of Huatusco since 1920. They purchased Finca La Laja in 1980 and, in 1999, established AC La Laja SA de CV (La Laja SA), a broader coffee company. Finca La Laja sits in La Laja, Tlatetela, in Huatusco, at 1,130 to 1,250 meters above sea level. The area is mountainous and fed by a network of small tributaries running into the La Antigua river.
Finca La Laja is cultivated under shade, primarily with Caturra and Garnica varieties, with planting densities ranging from 2,000 to 2,500 shrubs per hectare. They have sought new flavors and experimented with different processing methods, including the Honey process that produced this lot.
The soil is primarily Cambisol, characterized by rocky subsoil and susceptibility to erosion, as well as Luvisol, which features clay accumulation in the subsoil.
Each harvest, efforts have been made to improve production by implementing traditional selective methods (planting, fertilization, and pruning), resulting in good productivity and quality. Since acquiring the property in 1980, the Sampieri family has continuously pursued improvements in each harvest to achieve a high-quality cup, experimenting with various post-harvest processes including honey, natural, washed, and semi-washed methods.
This coffee has been processed post-harvest using the honey method, in which the pulp (skin) and fruit are removed from the coffee cherry, leaving a thin layer of sticky mucilage. In a washed process coffee, this mucilage would be cleaned off completely before drying, and in a natural process coffee all of the mucilage would be left on during the drying stage. In honey processing, some amount of the mucilage is left on during the drying stage, so its results tend to sit somewhere between the profiles of a washed (clean, acidic, bright) and a natural (fruity, jammy, winey) process coffee. There is no actual honey involved in this process; it is only so named because the mucilage surrounding the coffee bean inside the fruit tends to be sticky and resemble honey.
Learn more at https://www.cafelalaja.com.mx/finca-la-laja/.
Thanks to the Sampieri family’s longstanding dedication and efforts on Finca La Laja, this hoeny processed lot has a balanced taste with notes ranging from floral, lemon, and black tea to brown sugar, almond, and milk chocolate, with a soft and creamy mouthfeel.
