Crown Jewel Brazil Carmo de Minas Francisco Isidro Pereira Natural CJ1531 – 30642 – SPOT RCWHSE

taste

Taste Analysis by Joshua Wismans  

Though natural processing is popular amongst Brazilian producers, the presence of natural processed coffees from Brazil is usually tucked within espresso and seasonal blends. Francisco Isidro Pereira brings to us a lot that defies preconceived notions with a flavor profile that shows what these coffees are capable of. 

Being a natural processed coffee, we’d be remiss not to start with the fruit. There’s no mistaking the processing of this coffee, with pineapple, orange, plum, and lingonberry bursting out of the cup. However, this isn’t a one-trick pony. It’s complemented by a spice character of oolong, clove, and cardamom that almost reminds one of spiced holiday wine.  

When sipping, you’ll also be greeted with a full and round body. This isn’t to say this coffee is heavy, though. There remains a delicacy to this coffee that allows more subtle notes of apple and sassafras to harmonize with the more prominent tropical and spice flavors.

source

Source Analysis by Chris Kornman 

Surviving on little more than pão de queijo and Guaraná Antarctica, I made one of my very first visits to purchase coffee in Southern Brazil to a little town called Carmo de Minas nearly a decade and a half ago. It was an ideal location to shed the preconceptions I’d often heard repeated about Brazilian coffees – that they lack quality and consistency, that they’re mass-produced, that they’re not a specialty. The people I visited there quickly convinced me otherwise, often over a cup brewed by hand, paired with guava jelly and farm cheese, or piping hot fried cornbread broas dripping with butter. 

One of the first people I met on that trip was Luiz Paulo Pereira, the son of a coffee farmer and a partner in a startup export organization called simply Carmo Coffees. At the time, their coffee had come to me through a third party, and my opportunity to visit and connect with Luiz Paulo was one that evolved into a direct partnership, growing from a little coffee here and there into contracts that secured dozens of containers annually over the course of many years. 

Since those days, Luiz Paulo and I have exchanged a few What’s App messages and bumped into each other at trade shows, but haven’t actually traded much coffee. We saw each other in Boston, and I gave him a copy of my book which features a photo of his father’s farm, and he told me he wanted to sell me some coffee. I tasted what he’d been serving at the booth, and was really blown away by the cup. The coffee was heads and shoulders above anything I’d tasted at the entire Expo. 

When purchasing season rolled around in mid-summer last year, I tasted some excellent offers which we didn’t have room for in our inventory at the time. However, in the fall the C Market tumbled below $1.75 for a few months, and suddenly our spot Brazilian coffee position began looking pretty thin, opening an opportunity to resample and approve a container load of excellent coffee at a responsible price and a cherry on top, this delightful natural microlot from a farm managed and operated by Luiz Paulo’s uncle, Francisco Isidro Pereira, called Fazenda Santa Inês. 

Santa Inês is located just outside the town of Carmo de Minas in the Serra da Mantiqueira mountain range. The peaks span from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, and the slopes that fall within the borders of the vast bread-basket state of Minas Gerais are known under an “Indication of Origin” as the “Mantiqueira de Minas.” The region is the epicenter of some of Brazil’s most exceptional coffees and award-winning coffee farms.   

The word Mantiqueira is derived from a Tupi phrase meaning “crying mountains.” The range is rife with natural springs, including Carmo’s neighboring city of São Lourenço, where the water bursts forth from the earth, mineral-rich and effervescent. The abundance of fresh water in the region is uncommon in many Brazilian production zones, and combined with distinctive elevations, terrain unsuitable for mechanical harvesting, and smaller-than-average estates, the perfect ingredients exist in Carmo de Minas for exceptional coffees.   

 Natural coffees – those which are picked and dried unprocessed in the whole fruit before milling – have long been the preferred method in Brazil, but only recently have they caught the attention of quality-conscious roasters. In an uncommon twist, Francisco Isidro Pereira is growing legacy Red Bourbon trees, the parent cultivar to Brazil’s more famous Yellow Bourbon hybrid. Outside of the island known now as Reunion, Brazil was the first place the cultivar would be planted and grown commercially, starting around 1859, as a more productive alternative to Typica. 

green

Green Analysis by Doris Garrido 

Isidro Pereira has his hands behind this interesting Red Bourbon cultivar, a parent of the well-known Yellow Bourbon as Brazil has had a big tradition of growing Bourbon cultivars since the mid-1800s.  

This is a well-sorted coffee spread mostly between 18 to 16 screen size. We got a low-density reading with an average-looking moisture content. The water activity numbers look just a little above average.

Based on the reading, this is a great shelf-stable coffee and has some color varieties between brown and yellowish due to its natural process. I have found some minor damaged and cracked green beans, but they do not affect the taste profile at all.

Diedrich IR-5

Diedrich IR-5 Analysis by Doris Garrido. 

It may sound ridiculous, but in my coffee career I have not had many opportunities to work with Brazilian coffee. I have probably cupped a couple, but this was my first time roasting one. I was looking for a Brazil drip on a recent trip to Portland, and I found a great one. Now it was my time to work with Cardo de Minas coffee from the producer Isidro Pereira. As Chris Kornman was responsible for bringing us this coffee, I know it was a good find.  

Brazilian coffee is known for its low density. This was true for this coffee and based on that, I decided to take it easy. 

I warmed the drum till I got the roaster stable to 397F and charged the coffee (5.5 lb. on the 5 kilos Diedrich) and added 70% gas. After 3 minutes, started lowering the gas setting to 60% then 45%, and finally 30%. I noticed that after this, the coffee stayed stable. This coffee is low-density and a natural process, which means I must slow down before it runs out of my hands. On the other hand, with the 10% moisture, I was sure I would be able to get the acidity evened out by stretching Maillard. Also, I was looking to avoid highlighting the acetic acid as little as possible as we usually do on natural processed coffees. It is mostly a personal preference; I know funky and fermented coffee is also popular. I spent 4:07 minutes in Maillard starting with 50% airflow at 367F and 100% at first crack. As I anticipated, the rate of rise did not decrease after the first crack which made me turn the burners off and finish the roast at 408F. 

On the table, we got a clean and full round-bodied coffee, with notes creamsicle, strawberry lemonade, dark chocolate, ripe mango, yuzu, and kombucha notes. There is a slightly savory taste that reminded us of tamarind, and a little buzzy aftertaste.  

IKAWA

Ikawa Pro V3 Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano 

Our current Ikawa practice compares two sample roast profiles, originally designed for different densities of green coffee. The two roasts differ slightly in total length, charge temperature, and time spent between color change in first crack. You can learn more about the profiles here. 

With flavors like gummy bear, sour patch, and laffy taffy, we might as well be taking a tour of my childhood. This Brazilian natural no doubt will bring some vibrance to your menu with these flavors. Make no mistake, this coffee is extremely sophisticated for how childlike these tasting notes are.  

Doris and I cupped these two profiles, and we found the low density roast has lower acidity, with some tropical fruits like guava and mango. The longer roast allowed for some caramel-like sweetness and green apple. The high density roast was very crisp, with flavors like sour patch, strawberry candy, and some laffy taffy. At times, I feel like these sorts of flavor notes are very cartoonish where the coffee leans away from being well, coffee, but this coffee doesn’t cross that line. With notes of saffron and cardamom, it makes for a sophisticated and interesting cup

Doris enjoyed the light-density roast, and I was preferential to the high density roast. I believe this is a testament to this coffee’s flexibility and may allow for a wider range of creativity in profiling. Grab a bag of this Brazil while it lasts! It will not disappoint. 

You can roast your own by linking to our profiles in the Ikawa Pro app here: 

Roast 1: Low Density Sample Roast 

Roast 2: High Density Sample Roast   

brew

Brew Analysis by Katie Briggs 

Another fun natural coffee we get to taste here at Royal! I have been loving all of these natural fruity coffees just in time for spring. They complement the floral aroma in the air and the sunny days up ahead. Super excited for this Brazil coffee, I feel like we haven’t had a Brazil in the tasting room in quite a while and they are one of my favorite coffees! 

We started with the Beehouse brewer, with a dose of 19 grams, and the grind at a 9. We did an initial 50g water pulse for 40 seconds for our bloom. We then took it up to 200g of water, then 300g for the final pulse. From this brew, we got notes of green apple, apricot, a hint of nutmeg, and dried orange peel. It wasn’t my favorite; it had a bit of bitterness to it that I wasn’t happy with. I definitely wanted to clean it up a bit. 

We switched to the V60 cone brewer for our second brew to try and clean up that bitterness. We kept the dose and the grind the same and started with the initial 50g water pulse for 40 seconds for our bloom. Then we took the water up to 200g, and then 300g for our final pulses. This brew ran fast at only 2:55 and also had a pretty high TDS at 1.52, which is not typically desirable. We tasted notes of red apple, dark chocolate, marmalade, and cinnamon. We did this same brew with a courser grind at 10.5 just to try and get the TDS down to a better place. This one came out a bit better at the brew time of 3:05 and TDS at 1.45. This brew had notes of cinnamon, black tea, plum, green apple, and blackberry. 

We wanted to do one last brew on a flatbed brewer to see if we could get the TDS down just a bit more. We did the last brew on the Kalita Wave brewer. We did the same dose of 19g, but we put the grind at 10. We did the same 50g of water for 40 seconds for our bloom. Then we took it up to 200g, then to 313g for our last pulse, this was by accident, but we decided to taste it anyways. This brew was actually super tasty with notes of honey, dried mango, cinnamon, dark chocolate, and kiwi.  

All in all, this is a super tasty natural coffee! Fruity and fresh for this beautiful spring we are having here in the Bay Area. We recommend brewing on a cone or Kalita Wave to bring out some of the sweeter fruitier flavors of this coffee. Either way you brew it, it will be a super tasty Brazilian natural that is perfect for the spring/summer weather. 

espresso

Espresso Analysis by MJ Smith 

Dialing in natural process coffees on espresso is always such an adventure. You may have a general idea of what they’re going to taste like, but you never really know what you’re going to get. This coffee from Luiz Paulo Pereira truly packs a punch! Lots of chocolatey and brown sugar sweetness, combined with some exciting citrus, stone fruit, and herbaceous notes. Let’s get into these recipes! 

The first recipe I’m going to talk about was actually the last shot that I pulled. We’ve got a dose of 18 grams, a yield of 36 grams, and a pull time of 34 seconds. I had tried an 18g shot that pulled at 29 seconds and thought it had some exciting notes but was just lacking a bit in the sweetness department. After slowing it down, I was in love. The sweetness I was looking for was present and coming through in the form of milk chocolate and brown sugar. We were also able to pick up some mouth-watering notes of lemon-lime, raspberry, peach, and earl grey.  

I tried shots at several other doses, but for my second recipe, I bumped the dose and yield up to 19g in and 37g out and dropped the pull time down to 32 seconds. This shot had notes from all over the flavor wheel! That chocolate and brown sugar from before as well as blood orange, watermelon, black plum, and sweet basil. I could sip on this all day! 

Whether you’re looking for an espresso to appease the chocolate and brown sugar lovers or something to excite your taste buds, this coffee’s got you covered! Based on what I tried today, I would recommend a low-to-medium dose and yield, and a slightly longer pull time. Hope you enjoy it!