Brazil Premium Fazenda Furnas – Anaerobic Natural – Yellow Bourbon

Description

Rinaldo de Castro Junqueria (aka Pipoca) is the owner of the 280-hectare Fazenda Furnas, on which 200 hectares are planted in coffee. There are Yellow Bourbon, Yellow Catucai, and both Yellow and Red Catuai planted on the farm, which also grows some bananas. Rinaldo’s great-grandfather was a laborer on a coffee farm, and his grandfather was the first in the family to own a coffee farm, which was inherited in segments to the family.

Rinaldo’s father took over a piece of his father’s land, and after several years of cultivating standard-quality Brazilian coffee, he turned his attention to specialty lots. It was this decision that inspired Rinaldo and his father to sell the original farm and invest in a new piece, Fazenda Furnas, which was a 100-year-old plot with better potential for producing. Rinaldo initially pursued a career in engineering before making his way back to the family coffee business, and he has been involved in growing coffee since the early 1990s. Initially, he wasn’t interested in following in the family footsteps, carving himself out a different path. When his father called him back to work on the farm during a long illness, Rinaldo was surprised at how quickly he fell in love with coffee, and his passion caused him to gain a strong reputation and recognition. He was elected president of the local coffee-growers cooperative association, COCARIVE, and was a finalist in several Cup of Excellence competitions. Fazenda Furnas was also one of the first facilities to experiment with Pulped Natural processing.

Tasting notes:
A highly rated cup good from light to dark. A fuller bodied and lower acidity bean. Even though lower acidity, lighter roasts will have some winy citric/floral brightness to it. Hints of caramel and a sweet edge from the light to medium roast level.

Tasty from light to dark but we loved medium roasts the best; smooth and more creamy, sweet edged with just a hint of crisp floral upfront, good nutty/caramel tones and some lingering winy fruit in the aftertaste. Darker roasts are strong and far less sweet, tastes a little more like a standard Brazil, still very drinkable, more on the bakers chocolate side with stronger spice and complimenting smokiness.

Roasting Notes:
Versatile coffee good from light to dark. A little chaff heavy being a natural but roasts nice and even. Super light or super dark were the least favorite roasts for everyone here. A little development past first crack to a  borderline dark roast presented the cup nicely. For espresso good to get a little fuller roast to get some nice chocolate in the shot.