Brazil Minas Gerais Santa Ines Estate | Yellow Bourbon PN Processing Method Flavor?

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Santa Ines Estate, Carmo de Minas, Minas Gerais, Brazil: What Do the Yellow Bourbon Pulped Natural Lots Taste Like?

Santa Ines Estate belongs to the Sertao Group and sits in the specialty coffee hub of Carmo de Minas in southern Minas Gerais. It is a superb estate, and so is the group it belongs to. The family has grown coffee for more than a century, and its renowned estates set multiple records in 2005, winning both the "highest bid" and "most finalist estates" awards. Three of the group's estates ranked in the top 10 at the same time, a record that had never been achieved and that future generations are unlikely to match. Santa Ines Estate in particular is regarded by specialty coffee professionals worldwide as a model Brazilian specialty estate, with exceptional quality and fans scattered across the globe.

The scenery around Santa Ines is beautiful, with large temperature swings between morning and evening. The region's famous mist is also a major factor in the estate's outstanding quality. The estate has sweet natural springs and well-preserved pristine forest. It lies in the high-altitude Mantiqueira Mountains, and although the temperature differences are large, there is fortunately no frost damage. The volcanic soil is fertile. Under the leadership of Francisco Isidoro Dias Pereira, the estate maintains a traditional, meticulous approach to cultivation. Compared with most Brazilian estates, which expand production by thousands of bags, Santa Ines is more concerned with environmental protection and employee welfare. Coffee covers less than half of the estate's total area. The family prefers to focus on specialty coffee and build direct relationships with roasters rather than dramatically expand capacity. One photograph shows farm workers climbing onto a truck, ready to leave after the day's cherry harvest. Although the work is hard, they are in good spirits and happily wave. The reason, we think, is that the Francisco family takes excellent care of its employees, not only building dormitories but also providing free milk, good free coffee, a simple medical clinic and a fine soccer field. Family members and children get free transport to school in town. The scenery is extremely beautiful and well worth a visit.

Varieties

Yellow Bourbon, Red Bourbon, Yellow Catuai, Acaia, Mundo Novo, Icatu, Catuai

Awards

2005 COE Champion; 2006 COE Fifth Place; more than seven COE finalist appearances.

Region Details

Region: Sul de Minas, South Minas Gerais

Town: Carmo de Minas

Altitude: 1,000 meters

Harvesting and Processing at Santa Ines Estate

(1) Manual cherry harvesting: the estate sits on high-altitude mountain slopes, so only ripe cherries are picked by hand. As well as hand-picking, the coffee trees are given ample growing space and are not planted too densely. The workers in the photos are harvesting Red Bourbon, and you can see that these trees grow very tall, with branches extending over a large area from a single tree. Today's specialty standards are higher, so in addition to hand-picking, only appropriately ripe cherries are taken. Another photo shows bees collecting coffee flower nectar during the flowering season.

(2) At the receiving and processing station in the coffee garden, cherries are transported twice a day and go through washing, pulping and spreading the same day. When the semi-washed Pulped Natural method is used, the operation must run continuously. These processes are concentrated at another estate in the group, Sertao Estate (Fazenda do Sertao).

(3) After the cherries are received, they are washed first, then the fruit skin is removed, then washed again. The same day, the cherries are spread on concrete patios for the drying stage that follows.

(4) The second stage of drying is machine drying, followed by a very important resting period. The goal is uniform drying to a moisture content of 11 to 10.5 percent. A special batch from the 2008-2009 harvest, for example, could not be sent to the Cup of Excellence competition because of this resting period, which is how it became available to us.

(5) The beans, still in parchment, rest for 30 days to ensure quality stability.

(6) They are then transported to the cooperative for final dry processing, grading and packaging (the cooperative has precision density sorters and electronic color sorters for this work).

(7) Continuous quality control: process management and quality supervision run at every stage; each batch of harvested and processed coffee is individually marked with comments and retained samples from the cooperative's cuppers, and each batch's buyers (foreign roasters) have information they can discuss and compare.

Flavor Profile

Good sweetness, noticeable oiliness, vanilla, pineapple and hazelnut, blueberry, and a honey-sweet finish with distinct hazelnut and cocoa notes.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Grind Size: Fuji Royal grinder setting 3.5

Brewing Method: Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15 with 15 g of coffee grounds. First pour 25 g of water for a 25-second pre-infusion. Second pour to 120 g, pause until the water level drops halfway, then slowly pour until reaching 225 g total. Extraction time approximately 2:00.

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

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Brazilian coffee is defined by balance, and FrontStreet Coffee's two Brazil single origins show the range. The FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is the classic introduction to the region: a red bourbon from the well-known Cerrado area, roasted medium, with dense aromas of creamy peanut, toast, caramel and hazelnut, a rounded body, low acidity and a light bitterness. It is flexible enough for pour-over, a moka pot, espresso SOE, a siphon or a French press.

The FrontStreet Brazil Queen Estate is the fruitier counterpart. It comes from Mogiana, close to southern Minas, where fertile red volcanic soil feeds the cherries, and its variety is the uncommon Yellow Bourbon, a mutation of Red Bourbon with a cleaner fruit character. Through pour-over, a moka pot or a home espresso machine it shows a sugarcane sweetness that other regions rarely deliver, along with fruit and chocolate notes.

Because Brazilian beans are low in acidity, balanced and affordable, they are the backbone of many espresso recipes. FrontStreet Coffee's Classic Blend, its nut-forward Premium Blend and its balanced Black Cocoa Blend all include Brazilian coffee, which supplies chocolate and cream aromas plus a gentle sweet-sour-bitter balance and helps keep extraction stable.