Brazil - Cup of Excellence #26 Carbonic Maceration Natural

Whole Bean only 

Varietal –  Yellow Icatu
Preparation – Natural - Carbonic Maceration
Location – Carmo do Paranaiba, Cerrado Mineiro
Altitude – 1100 masl

We are very fortunate to have a limited amount of this amazing Cup of Excellence coffee to share with you. Cup of Excellence is an international coffee competition run annually in participating coffee-producing countries. Coffee producers are able to enter the competition by submitting coffees and these are then judged multiple times by a panel of global industry experts. This stunning natural processed coffee from a farm owned by Eduardo Eustaquio de Andrade won 26th place at the most recent Brazil Cup of Excellence competition with a very impressive score of 87.29 points! You can read more about this on the Cup of Excellence website. 

Farm Overview

The history of the Andrade family dates back to 1901 when the producer’s ancestors arrived in Carmo do Paranaíba, in the high Cerrado Mineiro region of Minas Gerais. In the 1970s, brothers Ismael and Eduardo Andrade, the third generation of the family, re-established coffee farms in the region, among them Fazenda Lagoa Seca at an elevation of about 1105 meters in the rural district of Carmo do Paranaíba. They are very keen on environmental sustainability and conservation and aim to produce coffee with a minimum negative impact on the environment and surrounding wildlife. 

Doctor Eduardo, as he is known, is a physician with an international education. He runs the farm with his brother, Ismael Andrade. The brothers are assisted by a team of professionals who all have a vast amount of experience producing high-quality coffee. Dr Eduardo focuses on managing and training the team while also developing new post-harvest processing techniques. Recognition of the Andrade brother’s hard work has been reflected in awards in the Cup of Excellence since 2016. 

Harvesting and Processing:

The harvest of this lot of Yellow Icatu varietal occurred when 90% of the coffee cherries were ripe and used a mechanical picker. This is a common technique in Brazil and a very efficient way to harvest coffee.

After picking, the fruits were passed through an electronic bean selector, which separates ripe cherries from green ones and floaters (dried fruits), without using any water.

Next, the ripe cherry was placed into containers to control temperature, pH and pressure, and fermented anaerobically, without oxygen, for a period of 120 hours. After fermentation, the cherries were dried on African beds initially spread in a thin layer, which was thickened to a maximum of 5 cm.

The coffee was dried for 21 days and stored in a cool dark warehouse for 35 days before being processed.

Tasting Notes:

This is an incredible coffee from Brazil and very different to what you would usually expect. Flavour notes include red grape, cherry, strawberry, stone fruits, caramel and brown sugar. This coffee has so much to offer. You can and find the full list of flavour notes on the Cup of Excellence page.

Brewing: