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.

View Cupping Scores Hide Cupping Scores

Fazenda Aurea is in a region called Serra do Salitre, a high plain in Cerrado Miniero, Minas Gerais state. It's the same area where we bought the competition-winning natural dry process Fazenda Rio Paraná of Ricardo Torezan a couple years back. At 1200 meters, the Serra do Salitre has better altitude than most of Cerrado proper, which averages 800-900 meters for coffee production. It's a coffee that is widely available - it's no microlot here. But when there is a better lot, it can do everything I want a Brazil to do, and at a price that is comfortable. In fact, many Brazils should cost less than other origins, because these coffees form Cerrado are mechanically harvested, and prepared for export en masse. Done well, mechanical harvesting is brilliant. But how many areas have the flat topography for this technique: very few. We like this coffee for it's consistency and as a blend base (although it is respectable as a straight roast as well). It works very well for espresso. It roasts well, evenly, especially for a dry process. Larger farms like Aurea use mechanical harvesters, something I used to have a bias against but seeing the results of this on my last trip to Brazil, it changed my mind. It's not like you can use machines to pick coffee anywhere - Brazil, and the flat plain of Cerrado in particular, is one of the few coffee growing regions it makes sense.The even roast hints at good ripe cherry selection. The reason for receiving coffee in the form of ripe cherry is to ensure uniform processing, and to avoid the defects that usually end up on the patios in typical dry-processing. This is a balanced, not overly fruity flavor profile. The dry fragrance in lighter roasts is distinctly nutty, malty, slightly caramelly, whereas Full City+ is more chocolate-laced. Wet aromatics and cup flavors can be described in much the same way: Solid body, balance, low acidity, creamy mouthfeel and flavor. This is no Micro Lot, it's a big farm that produces a lot of this coffee. It's a simple coffee too, straightforward. But we felt this lot was clean, had great body, a clean flavor profile, uniform roast and cup character, and more sweetness than anything else on the table (including some fancier and much more expensive coffees). There you have it.



View Cupping Scores Hide Cupping Scores

The Moreninha Formosa is from Serra do Salitre, a high plain in Cerrado Miniero, Minas Gerais state. At 1200 meters, the Serra do Salitre has better altitude than most of Cerrado proper, which averages 800-900 meters for coffee production. Moreninha Formosa is a choice plot on the much larger Fazenda Aurea, and within the MF plot, certain patches were chosen for this Raisin Coffee lot. This means that the ripe coffee fruit was allowed to dry on the coffee tree, a technique that is only possible in an arid climate that has a dramatic shift from wet to dry seasons, and plots with good sunlight exposure to ensure even drying. This also meant that all the coffee had to be selectively hand-picked, the norm in many origins, but NOT in Cerrado Brazil where coffee is mechanically harvested. And in fact, this lot was harvested from the middle to top of each tree, because they lower branches are too shaded and cool for effective tree-drying. After the selective picking of the Raisin coffee cherries, the plots were mechanically harvested and the remaining cherry sold at a pittance. Hence, to "cherry pick" the Raisin lot, it meant losing money on the rest of the coffee, and unforeseen cost associated with this effort. After harvest, the coffee was put on raised beds for additional drying, in the African tradition. This allows for dry air to circulate all around the coffee, evenly and thoroughly evaporating moisture from the ripe coffee cherry. And that's the second key here; ripe cherry. Hand-picking of raisins meant uniform ripeness. It's a bit theoretical, but the reason behind all this is the notion that the longer a coffee cherry remains in contact with the tree, the more sugars are produced in the fruit. Allowing it to dry while still a part of the plant system is pushing that idea to it's extreme. The results are quite interesting though, and I will be totally honest with you: I wanted to hate this coffee this year! Why? Well, it's a difficult process that not every can do (or should do), yet they produced a ton of it this year. It's very expensive for us, and given to the randomness of nature i.e. weather. I don't want to invest much in any coffee process that isn't repeatable. I wanted to find something wrong in the cup. But it was relatively and surprisingly clean, with amazing body (expected) and great rustic sweetness. Not that a different lot might be musty, but this one is amazing. Lighter roasts have potent fruited character, darker roasts add a thick, bittersweet chocolate overlay. The C+ roast has fragrant, rustic sweetness; muscavado sugar, dried peaches, banana, toasted coconut and fig. The wet aroma is more complex at the lighter roast too, whereas dark FC+ roast level has a super-intense, monolithic chocolate character. The cup is very aggressive, brutish, bittersweet. Contrary to the aromatics, I like the darker roasts for the cup flavors. The lighter roast has more descriptors, baked peaches, melon, earthy spice notes. But the sheer intensity of bittering chocolate, tobacco, and thick body at FC+ makes it a heavyweight contender. FC-FC+ roasts have intense body, thick, with well-knit toasted coconut, nut and chocolate flavors (... a Mounds candy bar?) I tried a melange of the two roasts 50% C+ and 50% FC+, but I still favor the hefty, powerful cup of the straight darker roast level. And I was surprised how nice the SO espresso was from this lot too.

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

View Cupping Scores Hide Cupping Scores