Characteristics of Fazenda Rainha Coffee Beans - How to Drink Fazenda Rainha Coffee

Fazenda Rainha Brazil

Country: Brazil Region: Mogiana (Fazenda Rainha)

Farm Name: Fazenda Rainha (Queen Farm)

Owner: Regina Helena Mello de Carvalho Dias, of the Carvalho Dias family

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Processing: Hand-picked, then pulped natural processing

Harvest Period: Latest harvest arriving May 2006

Detailed Introduction to Fazenda Rainha Coffee Beans

Origin: Fazenda Rainha, Mogiana region, Brazil

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Altitude: 1200 - 1400m

Processing Method: Pulped Natural

This estate-grade Yellow Bourbon from Brazil's Fazenda Rainha offers full, mature sweetness with rich fruity notes and a persistent aftertaste that earns endless praise. Whether used for American-style drip coffee or as the main sweet component in espresso blends, it satisfies professional experts and is considered an essential purchase for their bean inventory.

Yellow Bourbon beans are naturally sweet and clean. When processed by the pulped natural method, also called semi-washed, the acidity turns slightly bright yet balanced with tropical fruit aromas. The captivating aroma during brewing makes it even more beloved.

Fazenda Rainha (Queen Farm) belongs to the Carvalho Dias family and has been operating for over 116 years. Located in the mountainous region of São Paulo state near the Minas Gerais border, at altitudes of 1,200 to 1,400 meters, the area receives abundant annual rainfall of over 1,800 mm without devastating storms. With an average annual temperature of only 19°C, the cherries grow slowly and produce dense beans. Production is lower, but the aroma and flavor are unmatched by typical Brazilian highland beans. The farm mainly grows Bourbon varieties, including some Bourbon trees over 110 years old. Beyond the varieties, Fazenda Rainha's meticulous processing is another key to its exceptional quality.

Related Knowledge

The Cup of Excellence (COE) program and its trademark are owned and managed by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE), a non-profit based in the United States. ACE works each year with COE host countries to run cupping selections and online auctions of specialty coffees, while also supporting initiatives to improve coffee quality. The goal is to pick exemplary specialty coffees in host countries and share the experience for the industry to learn from.

Flavor Profile

Yellow Bourbon beans are naturally sweet and clean. When processed by the pulped natural method, the acidity becomes subtle yet perfectly balanced with sweetness, and some lots show tropical fruit aromas. The captivating aroma during brewing makes it even more beloved. Expect delicate lemon acidity, the fresh sweetness of sugarcane juice, black tea notes and a smooth, refined texture.

Hand-pour brewing of Fazenda Rainha Brazil: 15 g of coffee, medium grind (Fuji Rexus grinder setting 4), V60 dripper, water at 88-89°C. First pour 30 g of water and let it bloom for 27 seconds. Pour to 105 g and stop. Once the water level drops halfway, continue pouring slowly until reaching 225 g. Avoid the tail end. The water-to-coffee ratio is 1:15 and the total extraction time is 2:00.

Farm Introduction

Fazenda Rainha (Queen Farm) lies in the Alta Mogiana region of São Paulo state, north of São Paulo city. The farm is highly renowned in Brazil and owned by the Carvalho Dias family. The family's four major farms have won awards every year since the first Brazil COE competition in 1999, taking more than 12 wins in 7 years. In 2004 they even swept first, ninth and eleventh places, among others. Many farms in Brazil have hoped over the years to reach the awards list, but that is hard to achieve; the family's four farms have won year after year. Fazenda Rainha's own record is impressive: second place in 2000, third place in 2001 and 29th place in 2005. To date Fazenda Rainha has won awards three times.

This Fazenda Rainha belongs to the renowned and respected Carvalho Dias family. The family's four major farms have won awards every year since the first Brazil COE competition in 1999, taking more than 12 wins in 7 years. In 2004 they even swept first, ninth and eleventh places, among others. Many farms in Brazil have hoped to reach the awards list, but that is hard to achieve; the family's farms have won year after year. Even the Fazenda Rainha purchased by this company has an impressive record: second place in 2000, third place in 2001 and 29th place in 2005. To date Fazenda Rainha has won awards three times.

The Carvalho Dias family is also a founding member of the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association, and its commitment to coffee quality and environmental protection is evident. On their farms they use natural waterfalls to generate pollution-free hydroelectric power, becoming self-sufficient in electricity (another of the family's award-winning farms is named after this waterfall, Waterfall Farm). They have built churches, classrooms, nurseries and medical stations, and are committed to preserving native forest and continuous reforestation. At Fazenda Rainha, environmental protection is thorough. Because of the high altitude and uneven terrain, mechanical harvesting cannot be used, so all cherries are hand-picked. The farm cultivates low-yield, high-quality Bourbon varieties, making it a representative estate of Brazil's premium coffee.

Brazil Fazenda Rainha COE Pulped Natural Yellow Bourbon

Country: Brazil

Grade: COE

Region: Mogiana (Fazenda Rainha)

Located in the mountainous region of São Paulo state near the Minas Gerais border, at altitudes of 1,200 to 1,400 meters, the area receives abundant annual rainfall of over 1,800 mm without devastating storms. With an average annual temperature of only 19°C, the cherries grow slowly and produce dense beans. Production is lower, but the aroma and flavor are unmatched by typical Brazilian highland beans. The farm mainly grows Bourbon varieties, including some Bourbon trees over 110 years old.

Roast Level: Medium roast

Processing: Pulped natural

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Farm: Fazenda Rainha

Flavor: Lemon, sugarcane, black tea, smooth and refined

Fazenda Rainha's Coffee Processing System

Ripe cherries are hand-picked into cloth bags to avoid contact with the ground. Cherries harvested on any given day go straight to the farm's processing facility for pulped natural processing. Hand picking into cloth bags avoids earthy flavors and any improper fermentation. On arrival at the facility, the cherries are immediately "washed": they are cleaned, and unqualified or dried fruit (bóia beans) is screened out by bean size. Qualified beans then go to the pulper.

After the pulp is removed, the beans still carry some mucilage on the parchment. At this stage the beans are placed on patios to dry until moisture drops to around 20%. This stage lets the beans absorb their own starch components while avoiding the uncontrolled drying of a fully natural process, since those residual starches provide special sweetness without turning into off-fruit or moldy flavors.

Afterward the beans go to drying machines for final drying down to 11% moisture, then to storage for resting. Before export they are hulled and graded. This staged pulped natural method is one of the main reasons for Fazenda Rainha's consistent flavor, and insisting on Bourbon varieties is another reason for its fine reputation.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

For an easy introduction to Brazil, FrontStreet Coffee suggests its Cerrado pulped natural, a classic Brazilian single origin. Cerrado is a well-known growing region prized for high-quality beans, and this lot is the red Bourbon variety common across South America; at a medium roast it shows rich cream, peanut, toast, caramel and hazelnut aromas with a rounded, low-acid cup and a light bitter edge. It brews well as pour-over and also works in a moka pot, as an espresso SOE, in a siphon or in a French press.

FrontStreet's Brazil Queen Farm takes the same origin further. It comes from Mogiana, close to South Minas, where fertile red volcanic soil lets the cherries take up plenty of nutrients and develop full aroma. The region mixes farms that keep to traditional methods with others that have adopted modern standardized management, and the quality there has improved greatly as a result. FrontStreet's Queen Farm is the rare Yellow Bourbon, a mutation of Red Bourbon with a cleaner fruit character, and brewed by pour-over, moka pot or home espresso machine it delivers a sugarcane sweetness other regions do not have, along with fruit and chocolate notes.

Because of its low acidity, balance and friendly price, Brazilian coffee is also the backbone of many espresso blends. FrontStreet's Classic Blend (rich crema), Premium Blend (pronounced nuttiness), Black Cocoa Blend (balanced) and Commercial Blend for cafes all include Brazilian beans, which add chocolate and cream aromas along with a soft sweet-sour-bitter balance that helps keep extraction stable.