This is a coffee from the Fazenda do Sertao, the farm of Nazareth Dias Pereira. It is located in Carmo de Minas, and was a farm we offered several years ago, as well as their Cup of Excellence winning lot last year. The coffee has placed 8 times in the Cup of Excellence. This coffee has consistently scored well on my cupping table in the past as well. This 235 hectare farm is situated at 1250 meters, and has a mix of varietals including Bourbon, Acaia, and Icatu. This lot is a blend of all these cultivars, not a variety-separated coffee.

The lighter roast dry fragrance has strong almond-hazelnut aspect and an interesting malty grain sweet note. There's a touch of tamari in there too, a more savory/umami tone. Add water and the wet aromatics become sweeter, and in the case of my darkest roast, much more chocolate-like rather than nutty. The cup has a nice clarity in light roasts that distinguishes this from other Sertao selections we have. There a sweet tea flavor, with classic nutty Brazil roast tone (hazelnut, macadamia) turning more toward cocoa powder in the darker levels, at Full City roast. There is a bit of tangerine in the light roasts, and a more blackberry fruit in dark roasts, at levels just before 2nd crack.

This lot from Fazenda Santa Mariana is basically from a nice offer sample we received. I have not visited this farm, but enjoyed it's classic nutty-honey Brazil character and clean cup. The coffee producer is Glycia Ignez Teixeira Tibúrcio, who inherited this the family farm in 1998 and has been steadily improving the coffee trees. Santa Mariana dates to the 1800's. The farm is in Carmo da Cachoeira, Sul de Minas. It is near Tres Pontas and my favorite town called Varginha, the "area 53" of Brazil. The farm ranges from 900-1200 meters. The farm grows Acaia, Red Catuai, Yellow Catuai and Mundo Novo cultivars. This lot is a blend of all, although she does offer cultivar-separated lots. But sometimes the mix of varieties out-cups the separated types.

The dry fragrance ranges from nutty (walnut, walnut skins) to cocoa depending on roast level, with slight herbal undertones. The wet aroma has a honey accent with graham cracker and a strong nutty roast tone. Light roasts are surprisingly bright, crisp, with a touch of tangerine, malt and nut roast tones, and bee-pollen like honey notes. Darker levels have date sugar, fig, black walnut and cocoa. The finish is slightly tannic, like nut skins.

This is a special micro-lot from Fazenda Sertao, designated Bastiao Nunes. It's all Yellow Bourbon variety, and was part of a special auction that Carmo coffees held a few months back. Fazenda Sertao has been a favorite coffee of ours for a long time. The farm is owned by Nazareth Dias Pereira, and located in Carmo de Minas. The coffee has placed 8 times in the Cup of Excellence, which indicates I am not the only one who thinks this farm has some great coffee. This 235 hectare farm is situated at 1250 meters average, and has a mix of varietals including Bourbon, Acaia, and Icatu. As mentioned, this auction lot is pure Yellow Bourbon, from the Bastiao Nunes block of the farm, located at 1300 meters. It was vacuum packed at origin to insure it arrived as fresh as the original auction samples.

Dry fragrance has an interesting savory sweetness, like tamari-flavored almonds, with a caramel-molasses sweetness, and chocolate pretzel in the darker roast levels. Wet aroma has a slight winey fruit, malty sweetness, pecan nut, and more umami-like notes as well. The cup is classic Brazil, loaded with nut roast tones in the lighter roasts, and cocoa-chocolate as you near second crack. But the Bastiao Nunes microlot is very clean for a pulped natural Brazil, with moderate orange-lemon brightness hinting at the higher than average altitude of the farm. The body is creamy, and the finish slightly tannic and dry with tea and walnut skins. There are pumpkin spice notes in the middle roast range, but Full City was my favorite level, with combined creamy chocolate mouthfeel and a dusting of cocoa powder and orange pekoe tea. Straight espresso from Bastiao Nunes can be amazing we actually loved the City+ roast as espresso, although it was quite bright, it was very clean, raisiny sweet, almost floral.

Peaberry lots normally do not come in large amounts, but when you produce as much coffee as Brazil, it figures you can generate a lot of peaberries as well. Peaberry is simply the rounded-form coffee seed that occurs when one of the embryotic beans in the fruit fails to grown. Instead of needing to share the space in the fruit with a friend, the peaberry spreads out and fills out the available space in the fruit. The peaberries are separated from the normal flat beans in dry milling the coffee, before export. Peaberry don't necessarily have better cup quality than flats, but with this lot from Mogiana, I felt they did, absolutely.

This is a classic natural Brazil flavor profile, rustic and thick bodied. The dry fragrance has aromatic wood notes of cedar and a sweet pipe tobacco scent. Adding hot water, the wet aroma has savory notes, tamari, toasted almond, and heavily-browned sugar. The cup is in line with the flavor profile of dry-process Brazil, with nutty and cocoa roast tones, big body, and a slight drying finish. It also has a brightness and clean taste I don't see often in Mogiana naturals, with a unique dried apple note. (Perhaps this is the result of being a peaberry, as I do see increased brightness in peaberry coffees from other origins sometimes). There's a brown sugar sweetness as well, that gives dimension to the chocolate-cocoa aftertaste, with a touch of sarsaparilla. It's a really nice, crowd-pleaser coffee... uncomplicated, low in acidity, and great in espresso blends as well.