COE Brazilian Coffee Estates | Fazenda Santa Inês | Pour-Over Coffee Bean Recommendations

Brazil Fazenda Santa Ines: A High-Scoring Estate and Its Pulped Natural Yellow Bourbon

Brazil Fazenda Santa Ines Bourbon (Pulped Natural)

Country: Brazil. Region: Sul de Minas.

Estate Name: Fazenda Santa Ines

Town: Carmo de Minas

Total area: 214 hectares; coffee cultivation: 105 hectares

Variety: Bourbon

Processing Method: Hand-picked, Brazilian PN method (Pulped Natural Process)

In addition to the coffee introduced here, FrontStreet Coffee recommends these beans for pour-over: Brazil Queen Estate COE and Brazil Sacred Wood Estate.

Overview

Have you ever wondered who holds the highest score among the 60 Cup of Excellence (CoE) competitions held across 9 countries to date?

She achieved an impressive average score of 95.85 points. As of April 2011, no champion from the other 60 CoE competitions had surpassed this record.

She also set a CoE bidding record at $49.75 per pound, a CoE record that remained unbroken until 2012.

This exceptional estate comes from Brazil. It is the renowned Fazenda Santa Ines, now available in our country.

Since 2005, Taiwanese coffee buyers had been trying to purchase Santa Ines year after year. Any cupper who tasted her samples asked: "How much more is available?" Unfortunately, only Fazenda do Sertao, from the same group, was imported in 2006, and even that left those who tasted it full of praise. Can you imagine how exceptional Santa Ines tastes?

When the Brazil CoE competition resumed in 2008, Taiwan was also among the judges in this globally watched specialty coffee competition. On the afternoon after the Top 10 concluded, we conducted an additional round of blind tasting of exceptional estates that had not been able to participate. Some samples were remarkably outstanding, surprising everyone who agreed they were on par with the top three from the morning's Top 10. The sample that received the highest score from all judges was none other than this Fazenda Santa Ines.

Two days later, after three additional rounds of cupping and competitive bidding (similar to the 2007 Cup of Excellence process), Taiwanese coffee buyers finally procured their long-awaited Fazenda Santa Ines at a premium price.

Estate Background

Fazenda Santa Ines not only set the highest score record in CoE competition history but is also part of the SERTAO Group. The estate is located in Carmo de Minas, a renowned specialty coffee hub in southern Minas Gerais. The group has cultivated coffee for more than a century, making it one of the earliest coffee estates in the region. In 2005, its famous estates set multiple records, winning both the Highest Bid and Most Finalist Estates categories, with three estates from the group ranking in the Top 10, a record that remains unmatched and will likely be difficult for future generations to surpass. Fazenda Santa Ines in particular is considered by specialty coffee professionals worldwide as a model of Brazilian specialty coffee excellence.

The estate features sweet natural springs and well-preserved pristine forest. Located in the high-altitude Mantinqueira Mountains, it sees significant temperature variations but, fortunately, no frost damage. The volcanic soil is fertile. Under the leadership of Francisco Isidoro Dias Pereira, the estate maintains traditional intensive cultivation practices. Unlike most Brazilian estates that increase production by thousands of bags, Fazenda Santa Ines prioritizes environmental conservation and employee welfare. Coffee cultivation covers less than half of the estate's total area. They prefer to focus on specialty coffee and build direct relationships with roasters rather than massively expanding capacity.

Harvesting and Processing

Santa Ines Estate's harvesting and processing model is as follows:

(1) Hand-picking coffee cherries. The estate sits on high-altitude mountain slopes, so only ripe cherries are harvested by hand. Beyond hand-picking, the coffee trees are given ample growing space without dense planting.

(2) At the receiving and processing station in the coffee plantation, cherries are transported twice daily and immediately undergo washing, pulping, and spreading the same day. When using the semi-washed method (Pulped Natural method), continuous operations are essential. These operations are concentrated at the group's Fazenda do Sertao estate.

(3) After receiving the cherries, they are first washed, then depulped, and washed again. On the same day, the cherries are spread on concrete patios for the subsequent drying process.

(4) The second stage of drying uses machine drying, followed by a crucial resting period aimed at uniform drying to reach 11%-10.5% moisture content. For example, a special batch from the 2008-2009 harvest required this resting period and could not be sent to the CoE competition, which is how we were able to procure it.

(5) The parchment coffee is rested for 30 days to ensure quality stability.

(6) Transported to the cooperative for final dry processing and grading. (The cooperative has precision density graders and electronic color sorters for final dry processing and grading.)

(7) Continuous quality control: process management and quality monitoring at all stages. Each batch of harvested and processed coffee is independently marked with cuppers' evaluations and retained samples from the cooperative. Each batch's buyers (international roasters) have information available for discussion and comparison.

Cupping Notes

Dry Aroma: Champagne grapes, hazelnuts, cane sugar, cream, sweet vanilla

Wet Aroma: Caramel, chocolate, vanilla and creamy sweetness, premium hazelnut sweetness, floral notes

Sipping: Champagne grapes, noticeable sweetness, delicate oily texture, sweet vanilla, creamy chocolate and premium hazelnuts, licorice sweetness, with distinct spicy and hazelnut notes in the aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Fazenda Santa Ines is a benchmark for pulped natural Bourbon, and if you want to explore Brazil's classic profiles, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is a great starting point. Cerrado is a well-known Brazilian region for high-quality beans, and this Red Bourbon, given a medium roast, shows rich aromas of creamy peanut, toast, caramel, and hazelnut, with a rounded, low-acid body and a faint bitterness. It works as pour-over, moka pot, espresso SOE, siphon, or French press.

For a rarer Brazilian variety, try FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Farm Yellow Bourbon, grown in Mogiana near southern Minas, where fertile red volcanic soil helps the cherries develop full aroma. Yellow Bourbon is a natural mutation of Red Bourbon with a cleaner fruit character, and through pour-over, moka pot, or home espresso machine it delivers a sugarcane sweetness, fruit, and chocolate that other regions rarely match.

Because Brazil's low-acid, balanced, affordable character suits espresso so well, it also anchors several FrontStreet blends: the oil-rich FrontStreet Classic Blend, the nutty FrontStreet Specialty Blend, the balanced FrontStreet Black Cocoa Blend, and the shop-focused FrontStreet Commercial Blend all include Brazilian beans, adding chocolate and cream aromas, a gentle sweet-tart-bitter balance, and greater extraction stability.