This is a special micro-lot from Fazenda Cachoeira. The farm has been in the Carvalho Dias family since 1890. They recently celebrated their 107th crop, and recently their Organic coffees have achieved some recognition in the BSCA Brazil Late Harvest Competition, among others. Fazenda Cachoeira (it means waterfall, which is why there is more than one Cachoeira farm) is located in São Paolo State 3 miles from the border with Minas Gerais State. It enjoys the typical characteristics of the mountainous Sul de Minas regions that have made it the "heartland" of Brasilian coffee for many decades. Gabriel de Carvalho Dias, the owner, is also one of Brazil’s leading agronomists, an example of how it takes a very educated approach to tackle the challenges of organic coffee production. With a total area of 417 hectares, Fazenda Cachoeira has a coffee area of 165 hectares, along with other crops, ranch, and nature preserve. On this farm everything is done manually since its topography does not allow any kind of mechanization as you might find in the flat Cerrado savanna terrain.

Most of the offerings from Cachoeira are Yellow Bourbon cultivar, now widely available, and the cup quality varies from lot to lot. I have been very selective with our offerings, and this year the screen-dried Yellow Bourbon was not up to par. But this sample was totally different: a local mutation of Bourbon called Yellow Canario, available in limited amounts. This is also special because the green coffee is vacuum-packaged in 7.5 kilo bricks in Brazil, and imported in boxes, not jute bags. As you know, we are doing this with many of our top coffees, when it is possible, and the results have been positive from most origins. This Yellow Canario Bourbon is so much more dynamic than the other Cachoeira lots, bright, lively. The dry fragrance has sweet peach and floral elements, nice cocoa powder and dry-roasted hazelnut character at C+ roast. Add water and herbal-floral notes emerge with a touch of jasmine flower. There's a sweetness in the aroma you find in few Brazils. While my lightest roasts had a lemony tone, I much preferred City+ roast for its balance. There are sweet jasmine floral hints peeking out from behind a cocoa chocolate flavor, velvety mouthfeel, light body and a very elegant, sweet finish. Hazelnut and lightly malted chocolate dominate the roast flavor at City + roast, complimenting the lightly fruited flavors and jasmine accent. As it cools golden raisin sweetness and a lemongrass tea quality come out. For those cuppers in the coffee trade who avoid Brazils, this is a coffee that could change their minds, and the type of Brazil that would do very well in the Cup of Excellence. It has a premium price, but if it went through CoE it would be exponentially more.

This coffee is part of our direct trade Farm Gate pricing transparency program.

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Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza ("FAF") has been a coffee plantation since 1850 and has been owned and run by the Barretto family since the early 1900s. Since 2002, Silvia Barretto and her husband, Marcos Croce, have been working on transforming the farm into a model of sustainable organic agriculture. They produce varied crops, dairy, honey, sundry garden vegetables, but coffee is at the heart of this farm's production. The farm is located near Mococa, in the Sao Paolo state, very near the border with Minas Gerais. They have won the SCAA Sustainability reward and a host of others for their biodynamic approach to agriculture. They have partnered with neighboring farms and offer separate micro lots when the quality dictates. That's the case here, a small lot from two families of Joao Hamilton and Celso Santos (they are brother-in-laws) that has an unusual, outstanding cup character. The dry fragrance has ample chocolate, spicy and savory character. There's a bit of anise and sassafras, and (please don't laugh) a little soy sauce scent. Wet aromas are really unique as well, with Saison beer character, yeasty, and dynamic at the City+ level. There is an odd-yet-pleasant sweetness to the aromatics, with suggestions of malt and molasses syrup. The cup has exotic spice and raisiny sweetness. There are herbal notes, sage, opaque body, mulling spices. As you roast darker, that turns to dried fig, dark berry, with almond butter and chocolate in the finish. It's such a different coffee at intermediate roast levels, but all are good. I rarely roast Brazils to a very light City roast, just after 1st crack, but this coffee had a lemon cookie sweetness at this level, golden raisins, and jasmine tea finish! There are minerally notes in the light-medium roasts, and an interesting balance between sweetness and drying nutty tones. Somehow, I am reminded of Yemeni coffees, if for no other reason that the exotic flavor profile, and rustic suggestions.

This coffee is part of our direct trade Farm Gate pricing transparency program.

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Over the years, the Kopi Luwak issue is raised occasionally, i.e. the pariah coffee: Yes, it's a novelty, but the cup quality of the mostly Robusta Kopi Luwak is very poor. From this, many customers have assumed we stood on firm moral high-ground and would never stoop so low as to offer animal-excreted coffee. AHA! Your were wrong! We like all the infantile poop jokes just as much as the next person! Truly, the main problem with the Luwak is the lousy cup, the ridiculous price, and (in recent years) my concern that people are actually forcing this poor little Civet Cat to eat the coffee. So here we have the South America antithesis: Jacu Bird coffee. This is something I had heard of on my travels, but the reality of stocking a small amount of this coffee only arose after conversations with one of our partners from Brazil. The Camocim and Atalaia Farms are populated with a native South American Jacu Bird. These indigenous creatures are vegetarians, inhabiting forested plantations (shade grown coffee areas) and feasting on the ripe coffee cherries: It is a natural selection process of quality coffee. The farm owner, Henrique Sloper wrote this, "As a supporter of the natural flora and fauna of the farm, Camocim welcomes the Jacu Bird as a member of the farm’s agro-florestal system. Rather that think of the Jacu Bird as a pest, eating our finest coffee cherries, we saw the opportunity to employ the Jacu Bird as one of our finest manual coffee pickers. Once ingested, the Jacu Bird, eliminates the digested beans which lie on the ground under the coffee trees. Our staff collects these odorless droppings, transports them to the drying areas where they are dried, cleaned and stored in their parchment for up to three months." Note his comment: the coffee comes out of the Jacu in parchment, not as hulled green bean. While Kopi Luwak cups like low grade industrial robusta, the Jacu Bird coffee has a good mild Brazil specialty-level cup. Understand me: I am not saying this has some crazy cup character; it is a nice cup resulting from a very unique, er, process. The dry fragrance has a soft nutty sweetness to it, while the wet aromatics has a bit of molasses and brown bread. There is a slight black pepper note in the finish. The body is fairly heavy; it's good natural Brazil coffee. This year is better than last, and we had the green coffee vacuum-packed at origin to assure the freshness and cup character. I will leave much of the jokes about this Jacu coffee to you, but one you CAN make about Kopi Luwak that you cannot make about our Jacu Bird coffee: it does NOT taste like crap. It is a nice, low-acid, mild, rustic cup.

This coffee is part of our direct trade Farm Gate pricing transparency program.

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