Description
Low inventory, last few pounds available
Coming from the historic Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza (FAF), stewarded by the Barretto family since 1850. In 2002, Silvia Barretto and Marcos Croce took on the challenge of transforming this centennial estate into a model of regenerative organic agriculture—rightly renamed the “Environmental Fortress Farm” to reflect its mission of restoring life to soil and landscape after decades of conventional monoculture.
Under the Croce-Barretto leadership, FAF has built a network of over 50 neighboring smallholders to advance its “Agriculture of Life” ethos: restoring native forest corridors, eliminating all synthetic pesticides, and integrating agroforestry systems that attract pollinators and rejuvenate soil health. The operation is now being lead by Felipe Croce, son of Silvia and Marcos. FAF itself does not produce nearly as much coffee as it used to, they have become the center of the FAF/Bob-O-Link co-op and mainly focus on coffee education and farming research, Felipe on the side creates these amazing Nano-lots on FAF itself from exotic coffee strains each season, generally too expensive for our blood but after bugging him for many a seasons, he cherry picked a stellar 1 bag lot that will not disappoint.
This organic nano-lot is direct from Felipe Croce himself, far above average with more new wave tastes. It delivers a pristine, balanced cup with hints of tropical fruitiness and amazing chocolate and nutty tones. Every bag carries the promise of mindful farming—each purchase supports education, healthcare, and community reforestation projects that strengthen rural development across Minas Gerais and beyond.
Tasting Notes: Best at lighter roast points. A mix of exotic strains with an extended drying time giving this coffee a surprisingly tropical fruit note with some floral overtones. Would be hard to guess it as a Brazil coffee but wonderful tasting. From the first sip it offers a very fruity profile: juicy notes of watermelon and strawberry intertwine with a base of creamy chocolate with above-average sweetness, while maintaining the classic medium-light body typical of Brazilian naturals. In a light to light-medium roast the fruit and sweet creaminess shine, whereas at a medium-dark roast the cocoa facets deepen, malty and creamy nuances emerge, and the body thickens slightly, yet the cup remains clean and bright.
Roasting Notes: Easy to roast, a little chaff heavy. Roasts just slightly two toned. If shooting for those wonderful light roasts, make sure everything is a little through first crack. A longer setup is not necessary, these beans present nicely even 12 hours later. After 4-5 days, loses a bit of floral/fruity factors but the cup will be richer and smoother.
FAF Coffees and the “Other” Brazil
FAF Coffees is a specialty exporter in Brazil founded by the Croce family. During their years spent struggling to revive the soils of their own family farm in the Mogiana region, the Croce family connected with like-minded small growers struggling as well to make farming viable for the next generation. Over time, the Croce family estate, “Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza” (Environmental Fortress Farm), started sharing their approach to land management, and exporting other producers’ coffees to buyers they had come to know.
Farmers working with FAF have a strong focus on their immediate ecosystems—the watersheds and canopies that made the land worth living on—as well as quality in the cup, as a means to economic independence and self-esteem. Over the years the Croce family’s network of farmers grew. FAF now exports coffee on behalf of more than 250 small and sustainable farms throughout the Mogiana, Sul de Minas, and Caparaó regions. In all places they have mobilized entrepreneurial small growers dedicated to the same combination of cup quality, environmental health, and community strength, exuberantly referred to in the FAF network as “total quality”.
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