Brazil Fazenda Passeio | COE Brazil Coffee | 2017 Natural #13

COE Brazil 2017 Natural Group #13: Fazenda Boa Vista

Coffee Details:

• Country: Brazil
• Region: Mantiqueira de Minas
• Processing Method: Natural Process
• Variety: Yellow Catuai
• Altitude: 1,150 - 1,450 meters
• Flavor Profile: Walnut, pomelo, cocoa, malt sugar, white sesame, smooth mouthfeel

*This lot placed 13th in the 2017 Brazil Natural COE competition, with a cupping score of 88.65 points.*

Fazenda Boa Vista sits in the town of Dom Vicoso, in the Mantiqueira de Minas mountain region of southern Minas Gerais state. The farm covers roughly 100 hectares, 40 of which are planted with coffee at altitudes between 1,150 and 1,450 meters, averaging 1,186 meters.

In 1880 the farm's founder, Mr. Custodio Teodoro Ribeiro de Carvalho, established Fazenda do Rosario on this site, beginning both coffee cultivation and livestock. In 1952 Mr. Custodio's daughter, Maria Aparecida Carvalho Ferraz, and her husband inherited the running of the farm and renamed it Fazenda Boa Vista, for the spectacular views from the land.

From 1975 the farm turned officially to coffee as its specialty, led by two main varieties, Catuai and Mundo Novo. From 1986 onward the current third-generation owners, the Ferraz brothers, joined the team and took charge of coffee production. They began with wide-ranging variety trials and kept looking for ways to raise quality, while also improving staff training and adopting innovative equipment. Beyond cultivation, the farm's post-harvest processing facility became one of the key drivers of quality. Thanks to the Ferraz brothers' work, the coffee from Fazenda Boa Vista has improved year after year.

Fazenda Boa Vista combines an excellent location, terroir and climate with skilled cultivation to produce high-quality green coffee. Alongside that, the Ferraz brothers run the farm on sustainable lines, protecting the springs and rivers that cross the property by expanding its forested areas, and planting many diverse native fruit trees — some of them close to extinction — within the farm grounds.

FrontStreet Coffee is a roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but a wide range of beans, where you can find both famous and lesser-known lots, along with an online store.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer, and its beans tend to carry moderate acidity with a fine balance of sweetness, bitterness and body — which is why they take so well to a medium roast, coming out with a heady nut aroma, a mellow cup and a faint acidity, and why they work equally as a single origin or in a blend. For a first taste of the country, FrontStreet's Cerrado pulped-natural is a classic: a red Bourbon from the well-regarded Cerrado region, roasted medium to show creamy peanut, toast, caramel and hazelnut, with a round body, no real acidity and a gentle bitterness. It handles pour-over, moka pot, espresso SOE, siphon and French press alike.

For something a little different, FrontStreet's Queen's Estate single origin comes from Mogiana, close to South Minas, where fertile red volcanic soil and a mix of traditional and modern farming have lifted local quality; it is the rarer yellow Bourbon, a natural mutation of red Bourbon with cleaner fruit, and brewed by pour-over, moka pot or home espresso machine it shows a sugarcane sweetness found in few other regions, along with fruit and chocolate notes. Brazilian beans are also the backbone of FrontStreet's espresso range: their low acidity, balance and friendly price make them a first choice for espresso recipes, and the classic blend's rich crema, the nutty premium blend, FrontStreet Coffee's Black Cocoa Blend and the shop-focused commercial blend all contain Brazilian coffee, which brings chocolate and cream aromas and a soft sweet-sour-bitter balance that makes extraction more stable.