BRAZIL cocoa ∙ strawberry ∙ raisin
This coffee has been grown by the 20-year-old Augusto Borges Ferreira, from Sul de Minas, Brazil. This dry-processed coffee is an excellent example of the hard work of young, quality-oriented Brazilian farmers.
B
razil is the biggest coffee producer of the world, bigger than Vietnam or Indonesia. The main coffee growing regions are: Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Espírito Santo, Bahia, Paraná, Rondonia and Rio de Janeiro. Brazil, which gives a third of all the coffee grown in the world, is mostly known for its espresso and instant coffees. What we are interested in is the growing specialty sector that exists in parallel with the mass production of coffee in this huge country. This quality-oriented perspective is represented by the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association. They have been popularizing this niche market since 1991. We are hoping to be part of this market and enjoy Brazil’s new coffees. We believe that there is still a huge potential in the local arabica varieties and we are sure the fine-tuning of the dry processing methods will result in excellent coffees in the future. Augusto’s family has been involved in growing coffee for four generations, so it is not an exaggeration to say that he had actually grown up among coffee
plants. He farms his land called Capadocia with his wife Patricia in the south of Minas Gerais, which is in the Sul Minas region giving about 30% of Brazil’s coffee. His farm is planted with Yellow and Red Catuai, and Mundo Novo varieties. He only uses dry-processing methods. The ripe cherries are hand-picked, sorted and are dried on stone terraces. They are aired at regular intervals. Dry process is usually used in areas where there tends to be a shortage of running water, e.g. Ethiopia or Brazil, where the coffee is most often dry processed. Upon harvest, the beans are immediately spread to dry on terraces or African elevated drying beds, and are later hulled mechanically. The result is a really sweet, fruity coffee devoid of sharp acidity.
Our coffees taste the best when extracted with water of the proper hardness* range. In order to highlight the best flavour of our roasts we recommend having 5 to 10 days of resting period after roasting, but consume within two weeks of opening. Enjoy!
Cupping Augusto’s coffee we were astonished how fruity and clear it was. We would like to share this experience with you and we are sure that it will surpass any expectation you might have from a Brazilian coffee. * Total hardness: 50 –175 ppm CaCO3 (2.9–9.8 °d), ppm CaCO3 (2.2–4.2 °d), pH: 6.5-8.0.
alkalinity/buffer: 40 –75 (The SCAE Water Chart)
photo by The Nordic Approach
AUGUSTO