Description
New 2020/21 crop!
Niwaldo Antonio Rodrigues and his brothers Ailton and Maurivan are second generation coffee producers in the city of Pedregulho, São Paulo, Brazil. Their parents produced coffee beginning in the 1960’s, eventually moving from their farm in Pedregulho to Ribeirão Preto in 1976 so that their children could study and work in business. When the brothers struggled to find employment they resolved to reconnect with agriculture, buying a small property in the Franca region of São Paulo state. The farm was decimated by frost in 1981, and the brothers decided to sell the farm and move back to Pedregulho where their parents had first started farming.
Niwaldo and his brothers purchased Fazenda da Lagoa in the Alto Lageado community of Pedregulho. Over the years they’ve continued to invest in growing the farm, now totaling 570 hectares of land with 450 hectares of cultivated coffee. The farm rests 1000 meters above sea level and is planted with Catuaí, Mundo Novo, Catucaí, and Obatã varieties. The family is passionate about agriculture, the resulting beverage, and continuing to learn in their trade.
This lot of Yellow Catuai coffee underwent Natural processing. The Natural process at Fazenda da Lagoa consists of concrete patio drying and covering the cherries at night to keep them dry. The cherries are patio dried until they reach 16% humidity and are then finished in a mechanical dryer.
Tasting notes:
A very tasty cup, medium bodied and lower acidity, lighter roasts are quite jazzy. Clean with small hints of lemony acidity and noticeable but not over the top red fruit tones are the first thing one will notice. Cup is on the sweeter side and balanced with defined nutty and chocolaty undertones. A bit of that traditional Brazil nuttiness holds on in the aftertaste but the fruity and chocolaty tones are more dominate. Medium roasts we though shined best, smooth and more creamy, still a bit of a sweet edge, almost no detectable acidity and very easy to drink. Darker roasts were surprisingly not roasty, sweet edged and chocolaty with hints of smoke in the aftertaste, the fruit tone disappears but the wonderfully smooth chocolaty and nutty factor retain nicely.
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.
Dan litfin (verified owner) –
Took 3 minute to raise the heat up to 9 on the SR500 to dry out the beans and aid development. Really helps with softer Brazilian beans. City roast was smooth,just enough acidity to balance the cup, minimal bitterness, and very nice not over the top fruit. I love Ethiopian “fruit bombs”, but this is a very nice every day coffee if you want a little less fruit. Will definitely get some more
Victoria Hilary –
it’s smooth, just enough acidity to balance the cup, very very nice. I loved this coffee, it’s so balanced. It’s not too bitter, preserving chocolate notes. Very good sir Niwaldo