How to Brew Brazilian Cerrado Bourbon Pour-Over Coffee Guide

Brazil Cerrado Coffee Profile

Name: Brazil Cerrado

Origin: Brazil

Region: Cerrado

Coffee Variety: Bourbon

Growing Altitude: 900-1000 meters

Processing Method: Pulped natural

Coffee Grade: NY2

Roast Level: Medium-dark

Water Temperature to Coffee Ratio: 90-95°C/1:15-20

iCARE Level: Specialty

Flavor Characteristics

This coffee comes from Brazil's premium Cerrado region in Minas Gerais and is processed with the most traditional pulped natural method. That gives Cerrado an intense aroma, with a subtle sweetness carrying chocolate flavors and a barely perceptible lemon fruitiness. Roasting to the beginning of second crack lets the nutty flavors of Cerrado reach their peak. It is praised as the most "balanced" coffee of all.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Parameter Recommendations

How to Brew Brazilian Coffee [Cerrado Bourbon] Perfectly?

FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over reference: weigh 15 g of [Cerrado Bourbon] grounds and grind at a medium setting. The particles should be slightly coarser than table salt. We use a BG grinder setting of 6A (50% standard sieve pass rate), water at 88°C, extraction with a Kono/Kalita dripper, and a recommended coffee-to-water ratio of around 1:14.

Pour hot water from the gooseneck kettle in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper. Start timing as you begin pouring. Within 15 seconds, pour to 30 g, then stop. When the time reaches 1 minute, begin the second pour. The second pour should be the same as before—clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper. Avoid pouring where the coffee grounds meet the filter paper, to prevent channeling.

Leave a ring of space when pouring to the outermost edge of the grounds, then pour in circles toward the center. At 2 minutes and 10 seconds the coffee should reach 210 g, completing the brew.

Japanese-Style Ice Pour-Over [Cerrado Bourbon]

FrontStreet Coffee's ice pour-over [Cerrado Bourbon] reference:

Brazilian coffee [Cerrado Bourbon], medium-dark roast, BG grinder setting 5R (60% standard sieve pass rate).

20 g coffee grounds, 150 g ice cubes, 150 g hot water. The water temperature should be 1°C higher than the normal pour-over recommendation of 88°C. Normal grinding uses a small Fuji setting of 3.5, while ice pour-over uses a slightly finer small Fuji setting of 3. A coffee-to-(water + ice) ratio of 1:15 is recommended.

Bloom with 40 g of water for 30 seconds.

Segmented pouring—first segment 60 g of water, second segment 40 g of water. Use a fine but high water column, stirring forcefully to make the grounds tumble completely. Be careful, however, not to let the liquid level get too high or to touch the edge filter paper.

The entire extraction should take approximately 2.5 minutes (similar to the normal extraction time for 20 g of grounds).

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If a balanced, low-acid cup is what you're after, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian Cerrado Red Bourbon is a great benchmark. Cerrado is one of Brazil's best-known regions for high-quality coffee, and this lot is the common Red Bourbon variety from South America. Roasted for a rounded, low-acid cup, it shows rich aromas of creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel and hazelnut, with a rounded body, little acidity and a light bitterness. It is flexible enough for pour-over, a moka pot, an SOE, a siphon or a French press.

For a rarer single-origin, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate uses a rare Yellow Bourbon grown in Mogiana, near South Minas. The fertile red volcanic soil there feeds the fruit well and helps it develop a full aroma. Because Yellow Bourbon descends from a mutation of Red Bourbon, its fruit character is cleaner; brewed as pour-over, in a moka pot or on a home espresso machine, it delivers the clean sugarcane sweetness that other regions rarely provide, alongside fruit and chocolate notes.

Brazilian beans also anchor many of FrontStreet Coffee's espresso blends. Thanks to their low acidity, balance and friendly price, they appear in the crema-rich classic blend, the nutty premium blend, the evenly balanced Black Cocoa blend recommended by many baristas, and FrontStreet Coffee's Commercial Blend made for cafés. There they contribute chocolate and cream aromas and a gentle sweet-sour-bitter balance that helps keep extraction stable.