How to Hand-Brew Brazil Cerrado Mineiro Estate Red Catuai Coffee Beans_ What to Do When Hand-Brewed Coffee is Over-Extracted

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

NO.2 Washed Brazilian Coffee

A mellow coffee with both sweetness and chocolate flavor notes

THE FARM

If Ethiopia is the world's largest Arabica genetic repository, then Brazil is the world's largest center for Arabica variety improvement and innovation. Catuai is a hybrid of Mundo Novo and Caturra, discovered by Brazilian agricultural research institutions, making it a second-generation hybrid. It inherits the advantages of Caturra's low tree height and improves upon Mundo Novo's shortcomings; it also compensates for the fragile nature of Arabica cherries. The fruit set is solid and doesn't easily fall off when exposed to strong winds. Catuai also comes in red and yellow varieties, with the red variety more commonly winning awards compared to the yellow. For this selection, we chose the red Catuai, produced at Sitio Bateia Farm in Brazil. Although it's not a famous estate, this doesn't prevent it from nurturing this high-quality Brazilian coffee, which is very clean with prominent flavors worth savoring.

THE COFFEE

Origin: Sitio Bateia Farm

Variety: Red Catuai

Altitude: 870-1000 Meters

Processing: Washed

Roast Level: Medium Roast

Overall Profile: Full-bodied with low acidity

Flavor Notes: Dark chocolate, caramel, cinnamon

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations:

How to Brew Brazilian Coffee [Sitio Bateia Farm Red Catuai]?

FrontStreet Coffee Hand-pour Reference: Weigh 15g of Sitio Bateia Farm Red Catuai coffee powder, pour into a grinder for medium grinding. The ground particles should be slightly coarser than table salt. We use BG grinder setting 6A (50% standard sieve pass rate), water temperature 88°C, extracted with Kono/Kalita dripper, recommended coffee-to-water ratio around 1:14.

Pour the hot water from the gooseneck kettle in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper. Start timing when you begin brewing. In 15 seconds, brew the coffee to 30g, then stop pouring water. When the time reaches 1 minute, pour water for the second time. For the second pour, just like before, pour in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper. Don't let the water flow hit where the coffee powder meets the filter paper to avoid channeling effects.

Leave one circle of space when pouring to the outermost edge of the coffee powder, then continue pouring circle by circle toward the center. At 2 minutes and 10 seconds, brew the coffee to 210g to complete the brewing process.

Japanese-style Iced Pour-over [Sitio Bateia Farm Red Catuai]

FrontStreet Coffee Iced Pour-over [Sitio Bateia Farm Red Catuai] Reference:

Brazilian Coffee [Sitio Bateia Farm Red Catuai], medium-dark roast, BG grinder setting 5R (60% standard sieve pass rate)

20g powder, 150g ice cubes, 150g hot water. Water temperature should be 1°C higher than the normal hand-pour recommendation of 88°C. For normal grinding, use Fuji 3.5 setting; for iced pour-over, grind slightly finer by half a setting - Fuji 3. Recommended powder-to-(water+ice) ratio is 1:15.

Bloom with 40g water for 30 seconds.

Pour in stages: first segment 60g water, second segment 40g water. Use a relatively fine but high water column to stir and impact forcefully, ensuring the coffee powder rolls fully. However, be careful not to let the liquid level get too high and avoid hitting the edge filter paper.

The entire extraction time is approximately 2.5 minutes (similar to the normal extraction time for 20g powder).