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 its 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.

This is a late harvest arrival from Fazenda Joao de Campos, our second offering of the year. The farm is in a region called Alto Paranaíba near Serra do Salitre. It is 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. This is from a larger farm, no Micro Lot coffee this one. But it is much smaller than the neighboring Fazenda Aurea. Brazil coffee like this should be less expensive than other origins, because these coffees from 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 its consistency and as a blend base (although it is respectable as a straight roast as well). It works very well for espresso. I used to have a bias against mechanical picking, 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. It can be roasted lighter (City+) for straight brewed coffee, but I like it best at FC to FC+ for brewed use, blend, and espresso. The dry fragrance has a lot of roast sweetness and scent: nut, caramel, milk chocolate, and a backdrop of fruit. At City roast the aromas are malty sweet and lightly fruited, with a hazelnut note, but at FC+ they are much more aggressive and potent, with bittersweet chocolate tangy scents. In the cup, this coffee has a nice sweet fruited flavor at City+ roast, along with toasted grain, malt and caramel. Full City has very nice cup flavors as well, a balance between caramel and chocolate roast notes. FC+ is more pungent, spicy, dark chocolate alkaloids dominating the flavor and finish. Of course, this coffee is a natural for espresso all through the roast range, and would blend very well with either brighter coffees, or intense fruity dry-process types from Ethiopia. It's a very versatile lot.