What are the Flavor Characteristics of Brazil Fazenda Camocim Estate's [Yellow Bourbon Variety] Coffee? Brazil Camoc

Brazil Fazenda Camocim Estate [Yellow Bourbon Variety] Coffee Flavor Characteristics? How to Make Brazilian Camocim Coffee?

Henrique Sloper produces coffee at Fazenda Camocim in a fascinating way. He planted his first coffee plants there in 1999 and, in the 2008 season, completed the farm's conversion to 100% biodynamic. Biodynamic agriculture is often dismissed for its unconventional practices, but for Henrique Sloper the transformation was worth it. Fazenda Camocim is a 300-hectare timber and coffee farm at roughly 1100 meters altitude in Espírito Santo, Brazil.

The estate was acquired by Mr. Olivar Fontenelle de Araújo; in 1962, with the help of his grandson Henrique Sloper de Araújo, 300,000 coffee trees were planted and large-scale production of organic arabica began in the city of Domingos Martins—where few believed coffee would amount to anything. Henrique carried the project forward without chemicals or industrial products such as fungicides and fertilizers, adopting biodynamic methods in harmony with natural cycles.

Located at Pedra Azul in Espírito Santo, Fazenda Camocim is also famous for producing one of the world's rarest and most precious coffees: 100% arabica, organically certified.

After a two-year conversion, Camocim was officially certified biodynamic in 2008. Biodynamic agriculture is part of a holistic approach to land use, and the results show in improved yields, quality, and lasting freshness in the cup—quality of life across all our products is the main goal!

This coffee grows in Brazil's Montanhas Espirito Santo region of Espírito Santo on the biodynamic Camocim estate of cultivation pioneer Henrique Sloper, who visited The Roastery in August 2017. This natural processed Lapar 59 is a great example of what organic, biodynamic farming can achieve: bright berry sweetness over rich dark chocolate, with balanced acidity.

It was a typically hot day in the mountains of Domingos Martins, Espírito Santo, when Henrique Leivas Sloper de Araujo led a group of Cup of Excellence (COE) visitors on a tour of the farm. He first explained the importance of raised beds for uniform drying, then described in detail how the farm's post-harvest machinery selects the best cherries.

"Plants, insects, animals, and humans are interwoven, working together as one organism," Sloper said with a smile. His methods are unconventional and rare, yet credible: Sloper had just achieved the highest natural coffee score in COE competition history. The Alliance for Coffee Excellence noted that the 93.60 score, awarded by a panel of judges from 16 countries, also made his the first farm in the history books to receive the highest honor from Espírito Santo—and the first to win any global COE competition with a biodynamic coffee.

Soil moisture is more easily retained under the canopy of trees and shrubs, keeping temperatures bearable. To most producers and coffee professionals, the farm's ground cover looks like neglect or clutter, but Sloper explained that leaving it is an important technique for enriching the soil. Shade maintains higher humidity for the coffee trees, even through droughts that would hurt yields on conventional farms.

Natural flavors of sweet beans and toffee, drupe fruits, and nutty chocolate.

Camocim is owned by Henrique Sloper, who inherited it from his grandfather. From 1999 to 2008 the farm went through the many steps of organic conversion and earned numerous certificates: no chemical agents are used in cultivation, and many measures protect the plants and improve the soil.

Coffee Details

Country: Brazil

Region: Espirito Santo

Farm: Fazenda Camocim

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Altitude: 1100 meters

Harvest: June - August

Processing: Natural

FrontStreet Coffee Pour-over Recommendation

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 88°C

Grind Size: Fuji grind level 4

Brewing Method: Coffee-to-water ratio 1:15 with 15g of coffee. First pour: 25g of water, bloom for 25 seconds. Second pour: up to 120g, then pause. When the water level in the bed drops to half, continue pouring slowly to 225g total. Extraction time around 2:00.

Analysis: The three-stage method clearly separates the front, middle, and back profiles. Because the V60's many ribs drain quickly, pausing during the pour helps extend extraction time.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Brazil, the world's top coffee producer, grows an enormous variety of beans marked by moderate acidity and a fine balance of sweetness, bitterness, and body—ideally suited to medium roasts that release nutty aromatics in a mellow, softly acidic cup for single-origin brewing or blending. Brazil's sun-exposed plantations let cherries ripen quickly, giving a softer bean, gentle acidity, and excellent sweetness with a silky, balanced mouthfeel. If Camocim's biodynamic Yellow Bourbon is out of reach, two other Brazilian single origins make excellent starting points. The FrontStreet Cerrado Red Bourbon, a pulped-natural lot from the renowned Cerrado region, is the definition of great taste without a steep price: roasted medium, it yields typical cream, peanut, and cocoa notes with a round body, slight bitterness, and no sour edge, working across pour-over, moka pot, espresso SOE, siphon, and French press. The FrontStreet Fazenda Rainha grows at higher elevation in Mogiana's fertile red volcanic soil, in the rare Yellow Bourbon variety—a mutation of Red Bourbon with a cleaner fruit character. Alongside Brazil's classic compound nuttiness of butter, melon seeds, macadamia, and almond, it carries a sugarcane sweetness, thick and silky whether drunk black or with milk.