Brazil - Pirapitinga
Brazil is the world’s largest producer of specialty coffee, more Arabica is grown here than in the next 7 largest producing countries combined. To navigate all the options and discover exceptional coffees here Nemesis has been partnered with FAF from day one. Felipe Croce and the team at FAF work collaboratively with Brazilian producers to develop sustainable and regenerative farming practices, focusing on total quality and securing the future of healthy coffee production in Brazil.
An excellent example of this collaborative approach is our next house espresso, coming to us from the Pirapitinga community, a group of small holder farmers that grow coffee along the border of Minas Gerais and São Paolo. This mountainous region was formed around an extinct volcano and reaches up to 1400 metres above sea level with fertile volcanic soils, abundant in water and rich in biodiversity. Water springs and rivers originate from the mountain watersheds, providing all important clean water for the entire region, in fact the valley takes its name from the main river Pirapitinga, and the producers chose this name for their community as well.
Through FAF’s collaboration with the farmers the Pirapitinga community have access to agronomic consultancy and novel techniques like the application of micro-organisms for pest & disease control and overall soil & plant health. Through these practices they are able to balance their production with the long term sustainability of their land.
about the coffee
Facing the challenges of mountain farming, most of the work in the coffee fields is done manually and by the families themselves, which is less common in Brazil due to the scale of production compared with other producing countries. This lot is the Catuai varietal, developed for Brazilian coffee production in the mid 20th century as a cross between the already popular Brazilian varieties Mundo Novo (bourbon x typica) and Yellow Caturra (compact-bourbon). The coffee has high cup quality, particularly at these higher elevations.
When the ripe cherries have been harvested, the lots from Pirapitinga are processed and sorted at FAF’s Serra do Cigano Washing Station. João Hamilton oversees the post-harvest processes and quality control. The cherries are naturally processed, drying them whole for increased sweetness and body.
cup tasting notes.
milk chocolate | red apple | almond
As an espresso the sweet milk chocolate and toasted almond notes dominate the cup with a soft red gala acidity that brings a pleasant complexity to the cup. Look for a full body, round and smooth with a honey syrup mouthfeel. In milk, the sweetness shines through as toffee with a subtle acidity in the finish.
