Description
FAF is Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza. One of the best Brazilian coffee farms on the block (at least in our opinion). They are the family that process and runs the Bob O Link Co-op, which many of us love and have been waiting for this season.
I had the joy of staying with them back in 2017 on my first trip to Brazil and am happy to vouch for the sustainability and quality of the operation. They are leading the way in boutique Brazilian coffee and getting better every season! This is not your average Brazil by any means. From processing, quality of screen, tastes and sustainability of their farming practices, these beans go way above 99% of Brazilian coffee production.
These two FAF lots are basically very fancy Bob-O-Link coffee. Higher cup scores than generic Bob-O-Link coffees, more diversity in flavor & more traceable. Instead of being a larger production blend of co-op members, these are fancier top lots from single farms, or multi-family lots of single strains.
Tasting Notes: Great from light to dark; this is the fruitiest of the two lots with higher than average acidity for Brazil, highlighting some citric & red fruit like tones in the cup, sweet and a bit more wild. Comparatively to many Anaerobic Naturals, this cup is milder and much more balanced with traditional coffee tastes. Fruity but not crazy ferment & boozy. Lighter roasts show a fruit forward cup, sweet edged, just a hint of lemony acidity with a slightly nutty finish. Shines at the light/medium roast points but tasty from light to dark. As one pushes the roast darker, it builds stronger nutty tones and starts introducing hints of semi-sweet chocolate in the aftertaste, a bit smoky if you get too close or into 2nd crack. Retains hints of the fruitiness throughout the roast spectrum but more in the background/after-tastes with medium to dark roasts.
Roasting Notes: Easy to roast, a little chaff heavy but shouldn’t cause any issues. Roasts nice and even for a natural processed. Medium roasts are where we found the best cup character, a little hint of fruit, smooth and rich nutty tones with unique more African spice in the cup. A couple day setup is recommended if you shoot for the lighter roast points.
Fazenda São Felipe is located close by the city of Franca, in the Alta Mogiana region. The farm is in the hands of Vanessa’s family for several generations. A while back, Vanessa left the rural area for her studies, seeking a career in the city, however, returned to her family farm 5 years ago to be connected to nature and this reflects
in everything she does at the farm.
Vanessa does coffee agriculture with great passion and is a hands-on farmer. She is the 4th generation of coffee producers in her family and with her mother, she is leading all agricultural practices at the farm. She invests heavily in regenerative technologies and tries to find ways to implement good practices for a new sustainable coffee culture. At the farm, they are planting trees every year and slowly bring back the diversity that used to be present on the land before intensively farmed with coffee. They want to recover as much areas as possible and reforest piece by piece – focusing on springs and water bodies. In the fields, all inputs with negative impact are decreased to a minimum and soil and plant health are actively restored. Vanessa is working with sustainable practices – not for marketing reasons – but because she believes that this is the right way to do coffee agriculture and she wants to inspire others.
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