Is Sitio Caminho Farm Coffee from Brazil a Bourbon Variety? Flavor Characteristics of Brazilian Bourbon Coffee Beans

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

Is the Sitio Caminho Farm Coffee Bean from Brazil a Bourbon Variety? What are the Flavor Characteristics of Brazilian Bourbon Coffee Beans?

Sitio Caminho is a 7-hectare coffee farm where the owners, husband and wife Paulo Henrique Miranda and Sandra Lelis da Silva, grow Catuai at approximately 1,200 meters above sea level. The Miranda family bought this land 30 years ago, and Paulo Henrique is the third generation to use it for coffee cultivation. The trees range in age from 3 to 30 years and are intercropped with corn, beans, fruits and vegetables. All work on this farm is done by hand, from harvesting to processing, and the coffee is dried on raised beds. The farm is owned by two brothers, Antonio Marcio da Silva and Sebastiao Afonso da Silva, who also have 13 other siblings. They grew up in a family engaged in rice production and decided to enter coffee cultivation 20 years ago. What began as a single hectare of coffee has become the family's main source of income and a genuine passion for their product.

The farm is located in the municipality of Cristina in the southern part of Minas Gerais state, which produces a great deal of coffee thanks to favorable conditions such as fertile soil, distinct seasons and high altitude. The total farm area is 5 hectares, with the highest altitude reaching 1,400 meters. This particular lot is Catuai and fully natural process. As mentioned above, in 2015 the same farm not only won first place in the Cup of Excellence Brazil but also achieved the highest score ever recorded in a Cup of Excellence competition, which is impressive. That same year it also won first place in the Espresso Coffee Ernesto Illy Quality Award.

The producer is a member of APROCAM, an organization that guarantees the origin and traceability of lots. The farm is committed to sustainable development through responsible agricultural guidance and natural resource conservation. All harvesting is done by hand, and processing is completed on the farm. The coffee is dried on terraces and then finished through mechanical drying to ensure consistency. Once the coffee is ready for export, it is stored at COCARIVE, the Cooperativa Regional dos Cafeicultores do Vale do Rio Verde, which supports its members at every stage of coffee production, including commercialization, where a department is dedicated entirely to high-scoring lots like this one.

In mid-March 2017, it arrived directly from its origin in GrainPro. This is a very unusual and high-value coffee proposition. It was the highest-scoring coffee in Cup of Excellence history when it won the 2015 Brazil Late Harvest Cup with a score of 95.18. At that time more than 2,000 pounds were purchased at $23.80 per pound, and it was then highlighted at the opening of a new specialty concept at a renowned coffee company, where it sold for $40 per 8 ounces. We secured this year's crop because it was in the Cocarive regional competition in Carmo de Minas, southeastern Brazil. We received all the coffees judged in the competition but not yet auctioned. Sitio Baixadao was our favorite, and we were asked to provide it blindly. We then discovered that, for some reason we still cannot understand, it placed 9th in the competition with a score of 87.87; we would definitely have placed it at the top and given it a higher score. This worked in our favor then and now, as we won the auction at a price that makes this coffee a tremendous bargain. Buy now, as it will not last long.

Specialty Coffee Regions

Parana, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Espirito Santo, Bahia, Pernambuco.

Grades

AA Plus, AA, Peaberry

Botanical Varieties

Bourbon, Typica, Caturra, Mundo Novo, Catuai, Maragogype

Cup Characteristics

Aroma of red wine, mango and dark fruits. Green apple, champagne and citric acidity. Creamy body, complex and juicy.

Flavor Profile

Coffee from these altitudes, although relatively high for Brazil, is gentler than other origins, so slower roasting is possible. This coffee produces an earthy body and is ideal for single-origin espresso. We recommend pulling the roast before the second crack begins, or just at its start.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendation:

Dripper

Hario V60

Water Temperature

88°C

Grind Size

Fuji R-4 grind setting

Brewing Method

Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, 15g of coffee grounds. First pour 25g of water, bloom for 25 seconds. Second pour to 120g, pause. When the water level in the coffee bed drops to half, continue pouring slowly until reaching 225g total water. Extraction time approximately 2:00.

Analysis

A three-stage method clearly separates the front, middle and back-end flavors of the coffee. Because the V60 has many ribs and drains relatively quickly, pausing the pour extends the extraction time.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this lot has you curious about Brazilian Bourbon, FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon Coffee is the perfect everyday introduction. Cerrado is a well-known Brazilian region prized for high-quality beans, and this single origin is grown from the Red Bourbon variety common across South America. Medium roasted, it delivers rich aromas of creamy peanut, toast, caramel and hazelnut, with a round body, low acidity and a light bitter note. It works as pour-over and equally well in a moka pot, as espresso SOE, or in a siphon or French press.

To taste how the same family changes with color, FrontStreet Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon Coffee comes from Mogiana, near South Minas, where fertile red volcanic soil lets the fruit build a full aroma. Yellow Bourbon is a mutation of Red Bourbon with a cleaner fruit character, and it shows a sugarcane sweetness unique to the region, alongside fruit and chocolate notes.