Detailed Introduction to Brazil Santa Lucia Estate Micro-Lot Pulped Natural Yellow Bourbon from South Minas Region

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The History of Brazilian Coffee

Coffee was first introduced to Brazil in the early 18th century. In 1727, the Brazilian government dispatched a charismatic army officer who, under the pretext of mediating a border dispute, secretly brought coffee seeds back from French Guiana to Brazil. Legend has it that the governor's wife of French Guiana was deeply captivated by this officer, so at the farewell banquet, she secretly hid coffee tree seeds in a bouquet and gave them to him. Today, Brazil has two million hectares of land dedicated to coffee cultivation, with over 70% being Arabica, the largest variety. These beans eventually find their way to major roasters in various countries—what is commonly known as Santos (named after the export port of Santos, not a growing region).

Brazil's Premium Coffee Production

In fact, Brazil has also proven capable of producing exceptional coffee and small-batch varieties. Local specialty coffee is not necessarily limited to small-scale coffee farmers. Brazil's main coffee-producing regions include Sul de Minas, Matas de Minas, Cerrado, Chapadas de Minas, Mogiana, Paraná, and Bahia. There are both traditional varieties and cultivated varieties, such as Bourbon, Mondo Novo, Icatú, Catuai, Iapar, and Catuai.

Fazenda Santa Lucia Yellow Bourbon

Name: Brazil Fazenda Santa Lucia Yellow Bourbon

Region: Sul de Minas

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Altitude: 1080-1200 meters

Processing: Pulped Natural

Flavor Notes: Nuts, Cream, Caramel

Fazenda Santa Lucia is located in the Carmo de Minas region of Sul de Minas state, owned by the Helcio Carneiro Pinto family and now managed by their sons. This family has been growing coffee for 100 years. Of their current 740 hectares of land, 83 hectares are used for coffee cultivation: 9 hectares for Yellow Bourbon, 18 hectares for Catuai, 18 hectares for Acaia, and 25 hectares for Mundo Novo, with an annual production of 2,800 bags (60kg each).

Fazenda Santa Lucia represents one of the more technologically advanced estates in the Carmo de Minas region and is currently expanding its coffee cultivation area to increase annual production to 5,600 bags (60kg each). The family business is managed by The Sertão Group. Besides coffee, other land is used for livestock, corn, and soybeans. This particular batch was processed by COCARIVE (Carmo de Minas Cooperative), a small farmers' cooperative in the region. COCARIVE is enthusiastic about promoting high-quality coffee cultivation and processing research.

This micro-batch from Fazenda Santa Lucia uses pulped natural processing, with natural sun-drying for coffee harvesting. Experts describe the flavor characteristics as excellent clarity, nuts, dates, peanut chocolate, lemongrass, cane sugar sweetness, cocoa, nuts—clean and sweet.

What is a Micro-batch?

FrontStreet Coffee is here to explain this term to everyone~

• Micro-batch

This type of coffee comes from a specific block within a farm, sometimes from a very small plantation, or possibly from a small plot shared by many producers.

The coffee is harvested and processed in small batches. Due to increased labor costs, this leads to higher backend prices, so micro-batch coffees typically have very excellent quality. Terra mentions that O'coffee's micro-batch coffees have cupping scores of approximately 87-89 points, with production of about 40 bags of 60kg jute sacks.

This coffee from Brazil's Fazenda Santa Lucia is of the Yellow Bourbon variety, which this editor quite likes.

Yellow Bourbon traces its origins to Bourbon's birthplace on Reunion Island, Madagascar. In the 18th century, French explorers first brought coffee here, so this variety also has another name: French Missionary. In the 20th century, it was brought to the African continent and then introduced to Brazil. Its derived varieties now spread across Africa and America. The Bourbon variety grown in Brazil displays yellow fruit due to the influence of recessive genes.

Brazilian coffee beans are relatively soft, so FrontStreet Coffee suggests that when roasting Brazilian coffee, you can choose to use high heat with low airflow to accelerate dehydration. After the dehydration phase ends, use medium airflow and medium heat for the Maillard reaction, but don't rush the timing—finish near the end of the first crack. When brewing, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using medium grind, 86-88°C water temperature, and a 1:13-1:14 coffee-to-water ratio, paired with a slow-flow drip brewer~

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