How to Brew Brazilian Minas Coffee for the Best Flavor | Does Brazilian Minas Coffee Powder Need to Be Brewed?

Professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style)

Brazil Coffee - Cerrado Mineiro Estate

The dry aroma reveals the fresh fragrance of citrus and pomelo, intertwined with delicate hazelnut and caramel scents, finally with a subtle hint of hop aroma. Upon entry, it tastes like drinking a cup of sweet orange juice. At high temperatures, cream and pomelo aromas linger, and as the temperature slightly drops, it transforms into grapefruit and lime aromas. You can also sense the aroma of golden kiwi and gentle acidity, while the caramel aftertaste makes the overall flavor richer, clearer, and more delicate.

Pulped Natural Processing Method

The pulped natural processing method is mainly adopted for Brazilian coffee. After harvesting, the fruits are processed using a depulper to remove the skin and most of the pulp, then dried on high-altitude sun-drying racks. The remaining small amount of pulp increases the sweetness of the coffee beans.

Harvesting and Processing Steps

(1) Manual harvesting of coffee cherries: The estate is located on high-altitude mountain slopes, requiring manual harvesting of only ripe cherries. Besides manual harvesting, coffee trees are given ample growing space without dense planting. The coffee trees grow tall with branches extending over a large area. With the higher quality requirements of specialty coffee today, not only manual harvesting is required but also the collection of appropriately ripe coffee cherries.

(2) At the receiving and processing station in the coffee plantation, coffee cherries are transported twice daily and undergo washed, pulped, and spread processing on the same day. When using the semi-washed method (Pulped Natural Method), continuous operation is required, with these processes concentrated at another group estate, Fazenda do Sertão.

(3) After receiving the coffee cherries, they are first washed, then depulped, and washed again. On the same day, these coffee cherries are spread on concrete platforms for the subsequent drying process.

(4) The second stage of drying involves machine drying, followed by the crucial resting process. The goal is to achieve uniform drying to reach a moisture content of 11% - 10.5%. For example, a special premium batch from the 2008-2009 harvest season could not be sent to the Cup of Excellence competition due to this resting process, which is why we were able to procure it.

(5) The coffee beans in their parchment are rested for 30 days to ensure quality stability.

(6) Transported to the cooperative for post-drying processing and grading packaging (the cooperative owns precision density graders and electronic color sorters for post-drying processing and grading).

(7) Continuous quality control: Implementing process management and quality supervision at all stages; each batch of harvested and processed coffee is independently labeled with comments and samples from the cooperative's cuppers. Each batch's buyers (foreign roasters) have information available for mutual discussion and comparison.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

How to Brew Brazil Coffee - Cerrado Mineiro Estate?

FrontStreet Coffee pour-over reference: Weigh 15g of Cerrado Mineiro Estate 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, extraction with Kono/Kalita filter cup, recommended powder-to-water ratio of approximately 1:14.

The hot water in the pour-over kettle should be poured in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the filter cup. Start timing when brewing begins. Within 15 seconds, brew the coffee to 30g, then stop pouring water. When the time reaches 1 minute, pour water for the second time. During the second pour, like before, pour in clockwise circles centered on the middle of the filter cup. The water flow should not hit the area where coffee powder meets the filter paper to avoid channel effects.

Leave a circle when pouring coffee powder to the outermost ring, then pour circle by circle toward the center. At 2 minutes and 10 seconds, the coffee should be brewed to 210g, completing the brewing process.

Japanese-style Ice Pour-over - Cerrado Mineiro Estate

FrontStreet Coffee ice pour-over Cerrado Mineiro Estate reference:

Brazil Coffee - Cerrado Mineiro Estate, 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 pour-over recommendation of 88°C. Normal grinding uses Fuji 3.5 setting, while ice pour-over uses slightly finer half a setting - Fuji 3 setting. Recommended powder-to-(water+ice) ratio of 1:15.

Bloom water amount 40g, bloom time 30 seconds.

Segmented water pouring: first segment 60g water, second segment 40g water. Use a relatively fine but high water column for pouring, stirring forcefully to ensure the coffee powder rolls thoroughly. 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).

Related recommendations: Introduction to Brazil Cerrado Mineiro Coffee - Cerrado becoming synonymous with Brazilian specialty coffee

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473