Costa Rica
Los Pinitos
Black Diamond Natural

After a standard natural process, this lot has gone through an extended and low-temperature drying stage that allows the mucilage sugars to crystallise.

Black diamond natural process Orange Bourbon

Flavour: tropical punch, tawny port, pink grapefruit

Body: Acidity:

Roast: omni (filter + espresso)

Very Special

Here’s what made us feature this coffee on our VS lineup:

The origin: Costa Rica: home to some of the most premium coffee lots, the Las Lajas group makes justice to their reputation with premium, experimental coffees like this lot
Orange Bourbon variety: a rare, unusual variation of the Bourbon variety, it’s challenging when it comes down to picking time (because it’s hard to tell whether it’s green or actually ripe!)
Black Diamond Process: a slow curing version of the standard natural process, it brings a bunch of fizzy, fermenty flavours that will please those who look for more ‘festive’ flavour profiles

The process

What makes this process different from all the rest is the intentional curing process. It is still a Natural process, but the drying period takes between 15 and 22 days. The process is very similar to their other Natural processes: it starts with the rigorous harvesting standards, sorting and letting the superficial humidity dry for one day on raised beds. Then the beans are moved from the raised beds to the drying patio.

Black Diamond Processing

The drying process takes more attention than the rest of their Naturals. Since it’s a slow drying process, they need to constantly check on the temperature and movement of the beans so they don’t get heated. What they’re aiming for with this process is slow dehydration, slower than usual, not allowing the temperature to rise abruptly, and everything under control measures. Oscar explained that the concept comes from the process of drying coffee seeds for nursery, slowly drying them without compromising the embryo; a passive drying process.

With this process, they don’t want to harm the beans with high temperatures, but rather allow the sugars of the mucilage to cold crystallise. They look to obtain a sweeter, clearer, and brighter coffee with the Diamond process.

Finca Los Pinitos Farm

Las Lajas

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 is 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 flavour 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.

Learn everything about this coffee:

Ethical, traceable sourcing

This page has all the sourcing information (variety, process, region, story, importer, and more) that our importers share with us, and give us permission to use.

The transparency helps us talk confidently about the quality and background of our product, and it helps you know exactly what you’re buying.

Learn more:
Coffee page transparency legend
Our coffee philosophy
Our business approach

Fresh harvest coffee

We only source and roast coffee from each country’s latest harvest season (so the green coffee is never older than 1 year from the time of picking, processing and packing). This ensures the sensory qualities are always at their peak and unaffected by excessive ageing.

Roasted for espresso and filter (best enjoyed black)

Roast style: omni. Omni roasts are designed to brew and taste great both as espresso and filter. Our omni single origins generally sit on Agtron values in the ~70-60 value range. So, technically, they are somewhere in the lighter side of the medium spectrum.

Designed for espresso and filter brewing. Best enjoyed black.

Learn more:
Our Loring Kestrel S35 roaster
Our roasting style and approach

Best brewed within days 15-49 post-roast

The ‘fresh is best’ saying doesn’t apply to coffee (contrary to popular belief). Waiting before opening and brewing your bag of whole coffee beans helps develop peak flavour and acidity.

But heads up: if you buy pre-ground coffee, brew it as soon as possible.

Learn more:
Our recommended brewing window

Try our custom brewing recipes

Our recipes and ratios are tailored to our coffee sourcing and roasting styles, bringing the best flavour and feel out of each coffee.

For pour over, immersion, and other filter brewing styles, check our brew guides.
For our espresso single origins, we recommend a coffee:yield ratio of 1:3:

Dose: 20g ground coffee
Yield: 60g espresso
Total brew time: ~24-28 seconds

This is just a starting point! We encourage you to experiment, taste, and adjust to find the recipe that you enjoy the most.

Learn more:
Our espresso brew guide (single origin)
Brewing ratio calculator

Packaging and sustainability

Bags: ABA-certified home compostable (AS 5810-2010)
Labels: recyclable
Valves (only on +250g bags): general waste
Box and tape (online orders): recyclable

Learn more:
Our packaging

Producer: Oscar And Francisca Chacón
Farm/Coop: Finca Los Pinitos
Country: Costa Rica
Region: Sabanilla De Alajuela, Central Valley
Altitude: 1400-1600m above sea level
Variety: Orange Bourbon
Process: black diamond natural
Harvested: April 2025
Importer: Cafe Imports
Body
Acidity
Tasting notes: Tropical punch, tawny port, pink grapefruit
Roast style: Omni (filter + espresso)

The location

Coffee from Costa Rica

Since the mid-2000s there has been an increasing focus on the establishment of micro-mills in Costa Rica to increase their production of traceable, high quality lots of coffee.

Farm processes

Black Diamond Natural process

This technique leaves some flesh on the coffee cherry during processing and drying. This results in flavours which may show jammy fruit and a little winey-ness.