Flavor Characteristics of Fazenda Rainha Yellow Bourbon Coffee Beans - Brazil Arabica Specialty Coffee Growing Regions

As the world's largest producer of Arabica coffee, Brazilian coffee can be considered the leader in the global coffee industry. For the entire industry, the annual production volume is of crucial importance. Since the ICE, which determines coffee futures prices each year, primarily relies on Brazilian coffee beans for its main Arabica coffee inventory, the annual coffee production in Brazil directly affects global coffee price trends.

Brazilian Coffee Growing Regions

It is estimated that the country has approximately 300,000 coffee plantations distributed across 1,950 cities (Mello 2012). Minas Gerais state alone produces about 50% of Brazil's total coffee, thanks to its low land prices, abundant cheap labor, and mountainous terrain and climate suitable for coffee cultivation.

The main Brazilian Arabica coffee producing regions include: Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Bahia, and Espírito Santo. These four places account for 90% of the country's total exports. We commonly find Mogiana from São Paulo, while Cerrado and Sul de Minas in Minas Gerais produce premium Brazilian coffee beans due to their higher altitudes.

Minas Gerais

Sul de Minas (also known as Southern Minas) has higher elevations, with an average altitude of 1100m and an annual temperature of around 22 degrees Celsius. The region features rich topography, distinct wet and dry seasons, significant day-night temperature differences, and fertile microclimates, making it ideal for cultivating flavorful Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon varieties. It naturally became a major production area for specialty coffee.

The main coffee varieties in this region include Catuaí, Mundo Novo, and Icatu. Through cupping comparisons, FrontStreet Coffee found that coffee beans from the Sul de Minas region typically have a rich body with slight lemon acidity and fruit aroma.

Cerrado

When mentioning Cerrado, everyone will immediately think of the vast Cerrado savanna, which has the most complex biodiversity in the world. However, when it comes to the Cerrado coffee region, not all coffee grown on the savanna is called Cerrado coffee. Only coffee grown in areas at altitudes between 1100-1300m, which represent the best parts of the Cerrado savanna with high elevation and fertile soil, can be called Cerrado coffee.

The main coffee varieties grown in this region include Catuaí and Mundo Novo. Through cupping comparisons, FrontStreet Coffee found that coffee beans from the Cerrado region typically have sweet flavors of nuts, caramel, or chocolate.

In FrontStreet Coffee's selection of daily-drinker coffee beans series, the Brazilian coffee beans use semi-dry processed Red Bourbon from the Cerrado region. This is because the flavor profile of coffee beans grown here is highly representative of Brazilian coffee characteristics - nutty, caramel-like, low-acidity, and rich-bodied, with excellent value for money.

Mogiana

Mogiana is very close to Southern Minas. Coffee is planted among shrubs, grasslands, and other vegetation. In this area, there are many farming families, some of which operate traditional large farms, while others adopt small-scale modern operations. The combination of modern technology and mountain coffee cultivation culture has created the highest quality green coffee beans.

The main coffee varieties grown in this region include Catuaí and Mundo Novo. Through cupping comparisons, FrontStreet Coffee found that coffee beans from the Mogiana region have nutty aromas and sucrose-like sweetness. FrontStreet Coffee's semi-dry processed Yellow Bourbon coffee beans from Queen's Farm come from the Mogiana region.

Queen's Farm (Fazenda Rainha) is managed by José Renato G. Dias, an agricultural engineer specializing in coffee production. The farm covers 280 hectares, with 200 hectares mainly growing Yellow Bourbon, Catuaí, Yellow Catuaí, Mundo Novo, and Acaiá varieties. It has BSCA and Utz certifications.

When coffee reaches maturity, it's harvested using handheld mechanical harvesting equipment onto cloths to avoid contact with the ground. After harvesting, coffee cherries are depulped and spread on patios to dry. The coffee slowly dries in the sun until it reaches 11% humidity. After drying, the coffee is stored in wooden granaries, so the Brazilian coffee beans produced by this farm have more stable quality.

Bourbon Coffee Varieties

Careful readers may have noticed that both coffee beans offered by FrontStreet Coffee use Bourbon varieties, though with different colors. Bourbon is a subspecies that mutated from Typica and belongs to the oldest existing coffee varieties alongside Typica. When green fruits mature, they turn bright red, hence called Red Bourbon, which is actually normally mature Bourbon coffee.

Yellow Bourbon is a unique Bourbon variety from São Paulo state, Brazil. It's named "Yellow Bourbon" mainly because the fruit doesn't turn red when mature but instead presents an orange-yellow color. When Yellow Bourbon is grown in high-altitude areas, it exhibits excellent flavor profiles, typically with nuts and chocolate notes, balanced and smooth acidity, weak and clean bitterness, and an overall bright and refreshing character.

Semi-Dry Processing Method

Before 1990, Brazil almost exclusively used the rough natural processing method, which made Brazilian beans prone to woody or earthy flavors, as coffee fruits had to undergo two to three weeks of sun exposure. When encountering rain and moisture reabsorption, moldy flavors could easily develop. To change this situation of relying solely on weather, in 1990 Brazil leveraged its relatively dry climate characteristics and developed the semi-dry method (Pulped Natural) to shorten processing time. The methods are similar, with the difference being whether water is used to assist in processing. The semi-dry method significantly reduces the disadvantage of difficult quality control, successfully lowers defects, creates uniform and attractive appearance, and enhances sweetness.

Semi-dry Processing consists of two stages: first, sun drying reduces the moisture content to 20-25%, then it's sent to a drying machine to reduce moisture content to 10-14%, completing the drying process.

How to Brew Brazilian Coffee Beans for Great Taste?

FrontStreet Coffee brewing parameters: Using Kono dripper, water temperature: 88°C, coffee amount: 15 grams, water-to-coffee ratio: 1:15, grind size: medium-fine (70-75% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee uses segmented extraction, also called three-stage brewing: Bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds, then pour in a small circular motion to 125g for the first segment. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the dripper. (Timing starts from the bloom) Extraction time is 2'05"-2'15".

FrontStreet Coffee - Brazilian Queen's Farm Coffee Brewing Flavor:

Sweetness of sugarcane juice, black tea, smooth fruit sweetness, distinct nutty flavors, balanced and smooth acidity, weak and clean bitterness, with rich chocolate aroma and nutty flavors, bright and refreshing mouthfeel, with a smooth and delicate texture.

FrontStreet Coffee - Brazilian Cerrado Coffee Brewing Flavor:

Obvious sweetness upon entry, accompanied by a faint lemon aroma, containing rich nutty flavors, with distinct dark chocolate notes in the finish, presenting an overall rounded sensation.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473