How to Make Pour-Over Brazilian Caramel Co-op Natural Cerrado Coffee

Minas Gerais: Brazil's Coffee Heartland

Minas Gerais is a state in southeastern Brazil with a population of approximately 20 million. It ranks second in the nation in population, third in GDP and fourth in area. Minas Gerais has 853 cities, making it the state with the most cities in Brazil. The state capital, Belo Horizonte, is the largest city in Minas Gerais with 2.4 million residents, serving as a major city and financial center in Latin America and the sixth-largest city in Brazil.

Cerrado - 18 Screen

Brazil Cerrado SS Fine Cup SC 18

Variety: Bourbon

Grade: NY 2

Region: Cerrado region, Minas Gerais state

Altitude: 900-1,350m

Bean Size: 18 screen

Processing Method: Natural

Tasting Notes: Stone fruit, malt, black tea

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations

How to Brew Brazilian Natural Cerrado Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over reference: weigh 15 g of Natural Cerrado grounds and grind at a medium setting. The grounds 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 approximately 1:14.

Pour hot water from the pour-over kettle in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper. Start timing when brewing begins, and pour to 30 g within 15 seconds, then stop. When the time reaches 1 minute, begin the second pour. For the second pour, as with the first, pour in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the dripper. Avoid pouring water where the coffee grounds meet the filter paper, to prevent channeling.

Leave one ring of space when pouring toward the outermost coffee grounds, then continue pouring in circles back toward the center. By 2 minutes and 10 seconds, pour to a total of 210 g, completing the brew.

Japanese-Style Ice Pour-Over: Natural Cerrado

FrontStreet Coffee's ice pour-over reference for Natural Cerrado:

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

20 g coffee grounds, 150 g ice, 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 Fuji 3.5 setting, while ice pour-over uses a slightly finer Fuji 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 relatively thin but tall water stream, stirring forcefully to make the grounds roll fully. Be careful, however, not to let the water level get too high or to pour onto 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 you want a first taste of the Brazil region, FrontStreet Coffee's half-sun Cerrado is a classic single-origin. Cerrado is a well-known local region prized for high-quality beans, and FrontStreet Coffee's lot is a Red Bourbon. Roasted to a rounded, sweet-leaning profile, it delivers rich aromas of creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel and hazelnut; the cup is rounded and not acidic, with a light bitterness, and it works not only as pour-over but also in a moka pot, as an SOE, in a siphon or in a French press.

For a rarer single-origin, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Estate comes from Mogiana, near South Minas, where fertile red volcanic soil lets the fruit absorb nutrients and build a full aroma. This is a rare Yellow Bourbon, a mutation of Red Bourbon that gives a cleaner fruit character. Brewed as pour-over, in a moka pot or on a home espresso machine, it shows the clean sugarcane sweetness that other regions rarely offer, along with fruit and chocolate notes.

Brazilian beans are also a mainstay of FrontStreet Coffee's espresso recipes. Because of 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 favored by many baristas, and FrontStreet Coffee's Commercial Blend made for cafés. There, Brazilian coffee supplies chocolate and cream aromas and a gentle sweet-sour-bitter balance that helps keep extraction stable.