Brazil is the largest producer of coffee (full stop). They produce almost 40% of the world's total production and have some of the largest plantations and mills in the world. The 'typical' flavour profile for a majority of Brazil coffees are milk chocolate and nuts with very low acidity and a high body. No fruit here.. none at all.
But of course that's a massive generalisation, since the production regions are spread over a huge land mass with varying climates, soil, altitude and topography. All in all, Brazil is the KING of coffee.
If you're a Crankhouse blog/newsletter reader then you'll know I went to Costa Rica last year with importer DR Wakefield. We don't tend to buy large quantities of Brazil coffees from them but those that we have bought have been very good (Vermelho Mantiqueira and Fazenda Aracacu being great examples). When Jack from DRW mentioned he was taking a small group to the Mantiqueira region I didn't hesitate. The trip was only 4 days of farm visits and cuppings and I took the opportunity to reach out to another producer group we've bought some exquisite coffees from in the last couple of years, SanCoffee. I'd met them at various events and asked if I could visit them for a couple of days prior to the DRW trip which they kindly agreed to.
SanCoffee is a privately owned cooperative with 20 producer owners and another 400 'Beyond Borders' producers that they support and buy coffee from in the Campo das Vertentes region of Minas Gerais. The total output of the group last year was just over 65000 x 60Kg bags ie. Approx 4 Million Kg's, which equates to about 200 containers worth. Definitely not big by Brazil standards but significant by most others. This year they celebrated 25 years of operation and obtained a very prestigious Speciality Coffee Association award for their sustainability initiatives. It was easy to see the quality and attention to detail at every step and their dry mill (all coffee is sold to them as unsorted green) was absolutely state of the art. The cleanest and neatest mill l've ever seen. There were two specific 'features' that struck me as impressive. Firstly, all coffee is stored in 1.2tonne super-sacks which are moved around with fork-lifts. That in itself isn't that impressive, but every sack has a device attached with QR code (along with accompanying paper work displaying producer info as well as lot number and size of lot). This device is scanned by sensors mounted in the concrete floor at regular spacings as well as on each fork-lift and presumably hand-help units when a manual check is necessary. A control panel shows the layout of the mill floor along with the real-time location of all the sacks (and therefore lots).
When a lot is ready for shipping it is collected by a fork-lift and taken to the final polishing and packing stations (into GP and Jute for export). If the QR code of the sack does not match the job allocated to the machine then the fork-lift will automatically stop. The other impressive feature was the humidity control. At one point walking around the mill I felt a light mist hit my face. I looked up to see ceiling mounted spray devices which regularly send out a mist of water to maintain a perfect 65% humidity in the mill. All very impressive.
Before the trip Ana-Claudia from SanCoffee asked if there were any particular producers or farms I’d like to visit, and one name stood out to me, Fazenda Samambaia owned by Henrique Cambraia. We’d had an Anaerobic Natural Yellow Bourbon from him a couple of years back and it was a stunner and one of those ‘oh, is this really from Brazil’ moments. As it turned out Henrique is the president of Sancoffee and one of the 20 owners, and his beautiful house originally built in 1896 would be my accommodation for my one night stay. Once upon a time the house was nestled amongst the farm but nowadays the 1800 hectare farm is located a short drive away and split amongst various plots over a wide area. As we came close to the farm it was clear to see things here were very different to any origin trip I’d been on before, mainly gentle rolling hills with perfectly even and neatly contoured rows of trees. Each of the plots not huge in themselves but definitely ordered and so incredibly neat by design. Perfectly spaced rows, perfectly spaced trees within the row. Most (if not all) of the plots had been planted using topographical mapping and GPS guidance, to make harvesting easier, since all the harvesting here is mechanical (not hand picked) and all overseen by the farm manager, 30 year old Daniela. As she drove us around the farm to see the harvesting in operation we came across a few groups of workers whom Daniela greeted and spoke to. They were very respectful of this young smart woman in charge of this huge estate, but at the same time the exchanges were extremely friendly and it showed how good a people manager Daniela was just as much as a skilled and knowledgeable agronomist. Part of the farm had previously been owned and operated by another producer who had won Brazil’s Cup of Excellence until Henrique acquired the farm and added it to the Samambaia family.
It turns out Ana and Daniela both studied under renowned coffee researcher and educator Prof Flavio Borem so they know their stuff. Alongside Allan (Head of business development) , Fabricio (CEO) and Eduardo (Marketing creator) they were a dynamic small team that were welcoming and very generous.
Day 2 at SanCoffee was another special day. On arrival at the SanCoffee offices and QC centre I was shown into the impressive visitors office and meeting space. The first thing I noticed was a large screen displaying the SanCoffee logo alongside a “Welcome to Crankhouse Coffee” message. The second thing was a personally engraved cupping spoon and some other gifts which all made me feel quite the special guest. The table was set with a selection of 8 coffees including some ‘profile’ blends (chocolate and caramel), a a mixture of producers including Henrique’s Samambaia farm and something from Fazenda Cruizero who we’ve had coffee from before. Joining me for the cupping were the head cupper Helivado (Heli) and Bia who with Eduardo form SanCoffe’s ‘Barista Club’. The one underlying feature of all the coffees on the table was sweetness. Allan explained that for him, sweetness is core to high quality, since without it acidity and bitterness cannot be balanced. Makes sense to me and I’ve never had it described in such a succinct way. The consensus on the table was that Henrique’s two anaerobic lots were the favourite’s and I’ve already booked one of those lots. Following the cupping, the 3 Barista Clubbers gave me a very impressive presentation in English, describing the purpose of the club and how they hope to bridge the gap in knowledge and brewing skills between producers and buyers. The mix of Heli’s experience as a roaster, cupper and judge, along with Eduardo’s marketing and media skills and Bia’s bright enthusiasm was quite special. Together I feel they’re destined for great things.
One final farm visit before my short and sweet visit was over was to one of their ‘Beyond Borders’ producers, husband and wife duo Joāo and Margarida Élio. They welcomed us into their small and humble home with a freshly baked carrot cake on the table and coffee ready to brew. This was at the polar opposite scale to Samambaia. Their farm is only 2.3 Hectares with another 3 Ha located elsewhere, which they bought 13 years ago with a dream to make enough money to send both their daughters to University. They succeeded and the eldest is now a lawyer, the other a psychologist. Margarida’s new dream is to see the ocean. That’s perspective right there.
That was the first leg of the trip over and an incredible introduction to the diversity of Brazilian coffee production even in a small geographical area. A 2.5hr drive (which turned into 5hrs) was next on the agenda to take me to meet the DR Wakefield group in Sao Lorenço in the heart of Minas Gerais. We were being hosted on the trip by Baba and Amanda from Cocarive, a cooperative based in Carmo de Minas in the Serra de Mantiqueira mountain range and home to coffee from some 800 producer members. Joining me on the trip were roaster friends from some of the UK’s best including RedBank, Rave, Method, Quaterhorse, Wood Street and Forge Coffee.
Head of operations, Wellington aka Baba (since he dribbled a lot as a child apparently) is one of those special people you meet with a life force and knowledge that few of us who work in coffee could hope to match. Cocarive began in 1961 and their work with the members has resulted in numerous awards including over 350 in Cup of Excellence competitions (incl the highest score ever awarded in any competition until very recently - 95.18 in 2014) as well as being the first region of Brazil to be issued a protected ‘denomination of origin’. This recognises that Mantiqueira has a specific cup profile not found anywhere else Brazil. The cool climates, high altitudes, rich red volcanic soil all lend themselves to clean and bright cups more akin to Central America than to Brazil (we’ve had a couple of Cocarive coffees at Crankhouse in the past and can attest to that). One of the other unique and significant features of the landscape is reflected in it’s name, ‘Mantiqueira’ means ‘Hill that cries’ in the indigenous Tupi-Guarani language and is one of the most important sources of drinking water in Brazil’s South-East.
Baba gave us a breakdown of how Cocariva had developed over the years including the variety testing and sensory evaluation work they’d done over the last 18 years under his guidance, to reach a point where the dominant varieties being grown and planted were now mainly yellow ie. Bourbon, Catucai, Catuai and some new modern varieties Arara and Paraiso. The testing had shown that these yellow varieties performed better in these climatic conditions for cup quality. In addition the gradual increase in cup score over the last 15 years showed progressive increases in 80-83 and 84-86 point coffees at the expense of ‘commercial’ grades. Today Cocarive export over 131k 60Kg sacks which equates to around 8 million Kg’s of green coffee, around 400 containers. Of that, 65% gets exported to Europe. One of the major projects Cocarive have implemented is their S+ regenrative agriculture project in which their producer members must use a minimum of 80% organic fertilisers. Some of their member farms are already 100% organic even though they might not be certified as such (certification is an expensive undertaking with no guarantee of corresponding return).
Our itinerary included daily cuppings and farm visits, the first of which was to Rancho San Benedito managed by Marco de Carvalho Junqueira whose 98 year old mother Mariala is still involved in the day to day operations. The entrance to the family home was like a trophy room with CoE certificates and other competitions from various years adorning the walls. Marco brewed us up some coffee to welcome us and it was as expected, absolutely delicious and the first of many special moments to come within this beautiful region of Brazil. After coffee Marco took us up to the highest part of the farm at just over 1300m with some drying beds and experimental lots including Geisha, Paraiso, Obata and many more.
Marco and Baba
Day 2 was the start of the cupping sessions and it was immediately clear we were dealing with coffees a long way away from that stereotypical ‘Brazilian’ profile, with way more acidity and clarity in the cup that I was expecting. There are two main processing techniques in this region, naturals and pulped naturals. The latter is akin to a honey process in other country terminology ie, cherries are depulped in a mechanical pulper and then laid out to dry on the patios or raised beds. Naturals are simply dried in the skin. One main difference for choosing which method to use is the amount of patio space or raised beds available. Naturals take approx 12-15 days to dry, whereas PNs way less (48 hrs). So if space is an issue and a de-pulper is available then PN’s are the preferred choice (if a depulping machine is available). The difference in cup profile is significant, reflective of the amount of mucilage available for fermentation. PNs have less mucilage and therefore have a cleaner cup with lower body. Naturals typically a heavier body and more fruit driven profile. After our two cupping tables we were taken to the site of the new (and old) Cocarive warehouse and dry mill with the new 6000 sqm shed, offering an additional space equivalent to 150000 60Kg sacks. Since it’s a member owned coop, the construction of the warehouse was voted by the majority at the member AGM. ie any profits in Cocarive belong to the 800 members.
Our second farm visit was to Sitio Da Torre (farm of the tower) and expectations were set very high. I knew their coffee was good, having tasted it from a couple of roasters in the past, but rumour had it that the BBQ dinner that evening was likely to be something special and the owner, Alvaro Antônio Pereira Coli, extremely generous. Wise and true words. Da Torre is another award winning farm with a huge trophy cabinet and awards wall and the farm itself within the stunning Mantqueira mountain range. Alvaro’s son Gustav explained the layout of the farm, varieties and processing methods used, highlighting the fact that between 60 and 70% of the farm is planted with yellow varieties. As well as their favourite Yellow Bourbon, they have Geisha, Caturra, Catuai, Obata and a number of experimental varieties that they’re testing alongside a research institute. Another beautiful farm with coffees spread across different altitudes, and different facing slopes. This was something I’d not fully appreciated before, with sun-facing and contra-facing slopes having very different maturation rates and therefore cup profiles. Typically sun-facing slopes would have faster ripening and less nuanced cups, contra-facing slower ripening more complex cups. And yes, the rumours were absolutely correct, the BBQ was incredible and Alvaro was a very generous host (especially with his Cachaça).
By design, Baba had included some Sitio Da Torre lots on the Day 3 cupping tables including both pulped and natural versions of the Yellow Bourbon from different plots on the farm. They were both excellent and one or more of them will be making an appearance on the Crankhouse list once they’ve landed. The next farm visit was to Sitio Baixadão owned by Sebastião Afonso da Silva and managed by his son Helisson, which had special significance for one of my fellow travellers, Bee from Redbank coffee, since she’d visited 3 years prior and one of their coffees formed a major component of Redbank’s biggest selling blend (Penny Rock). Baixadão is also significant because it achieved a huge 95.18 points back in 2015, the highest ever awarded to any coffee at that time. We jumped into some 4WDs and up we went to the highest parts of the farm where the pickers were still busy at work. Just walking between the trees was hard enough and seeing the effort the pickers were putting in re-enforced how difficult and arduous that work is. Unlike Campo das Vertentes with its soft rolling hills and mechanical harvesting, most of the Mantiqueira farms are planted on steep slopes more akin to Colombia or Central American coffee farms. In some cases they can use a hand-held device that ‘shakes’ the trees, especially useful for taller varieties that have not been pruned or stumped in the last few years (they wait until the trees get too unwieldy before performing pruning or stumping since there’s typically a one to two year loss of harvest from the stress to the tree). Mostly it’s by hand and it’s tough work. There seemed to be spread of ripeness on the trees and the pickers were stripping the trees bare (not selectively picking only ripes). Overripes towards the tops of the trees, ripes in the middle and some green underripes lower down. Helisson explained this was due to a lack of pickers available for the harvest this year and therefore only the one pass was possible.
Next up was a visit to the Fairtrade village of Sertoazhino on special request of another of my fellow roasters Wood St Coffee. They use a coffee from this producer community as their house coffee and this year committed to 600 sacks of a Yellow Bourbon, which is roughly 10% of the entire production of the 90 or so small-holder producers. Each producing family in the village have their own small patios for drying their lots. Since their plots are spread out and at varying attitudes with different aspects they help each other during harvesting. We stopped at Paulinho and Maria’s house for a coffee and a chat before walking a few minutes to their plot. It was more like a scramble than a walk to be honest and the wildest coffee I’d seen on the trip by far. The plot had originally been planted as a Banana farm and had abundant shade trees. Coffee was planted some time after and they continue to grow and sell Bananas into the local market. This ‘wild’ feeling of steep slopes, abundant shade and nitrogen fixing trees felt a long way away from the neat cultivated plots we’d seen elsewhere and I could see why the Wood St crew had fallen in love with the village, the people and their coffees.
One final half-day cupping at the Cocarive offices with some more great coffees and then off for our last farm visits to two incredible farms, Fazenda Coqueiro and Fazenda Ondas da Mantiqueira. As we arrived up at the top of Coqueiro, coffee and treats were waiting for us and the view was something else. In charge of all things coffee for both farms is agronomist Jonathan and he led us through the varieties and processes on Coqueiro. Then back in the 4WDs and off to their new project, Fazenda Ondas da Mantiqueira which they’d brought last year and were already making huge inroads into making this something very special indeed. I’d mentioned previously where the name Mantiqueira came from - the indigenous name for ‘crying mountain’, a natural water source. This hadn’t been evident until we reached the collection point and processing station at this farm, where water channels had been created to move, clean and sort the cherries from the collection point all the way through to the drying beds and patios for the naturals or to the pulping station for the pulped naturals. Quite an impressive setup. We were then taken up to almost the highest point of the farm to another stunning vista just in time for sunset. Up here, alongside coffee were young Syrah vines and recently planted Olive trees. Since taking over the farm they’d already doubled the capacity by planting 150 hectares of new trees and were planning on doing the same next year. It’s definitely a name to watch out for in the coming seasons.
That’s a long trip report but hopefully conveys the diversity of coffee production in one small region of Brazil. As always I feel privileged to be able to take these trips and am lucky to leave Jack and Fran in the roastery fulfilling orders and keeping the Crankhouse rubber dingy afloat.
As is my way with origin trips I got a little carried away with my enthusiasm and there will be a number of lots coming into Crankhouse. Two ‘volume’ lots will form house coffee options and then a number of smaller lots. Ie. expect to see more Brazil offerings on the list in the future.
I’ll sign off by thanking the team at SanCoffee, especially Ana, Allan, Fabricio and Eduardo, as well as to Baba and his whole team at Cocarive especially Hugo and Amanda for all their generosity and hospitality. Any trip is made special by the people it’s shared with and I feel very lucky to have been invited by Jack at DR Wakefield to join in with this special group of friends. You know who you are.
A random selection of a few extra pics below:
