Variety:  Yellow Catucaí

Region:  Mantiqueira de Minas

Farm:  Boa Vista

Elevation:  4100 feet

Process:  pulped natural

Tasting notes: buttery mouthfeel, pistachio, caramel, raspberry-like acidity

We are thrilled to carry a coffee that was a resounding customer and in-house favorite last year when roasted for the White Label program—the Fazenda Boa Vista. For this single-origin offering, we picked two adjacent pulped-natural lots from Boa Vista, both of which placed in the top 10 in the Cocarive Specialty Coffee Competition of small lots from the Mantiqueira de Minas growing region of Brasil.

Fazenda Boa Vista, “good view,” gets its name from its perch at 4100 feet on the highest section of a larger family farm, Fazenda do Rosário, where the same family has been cultivating coffee since the 1880s. We are offering lots from the brothers Marcelo and Flavio Carvalho Ferraz who now grow coffee on Boa Vista using modern and sustainable cultivation, harvesting, and processing techniques to ensure that the rich soil and hospitable climate have every opportunity to make their unique imprint on the crop.

The Carvalho Ferraz family is engaged throughout the farm in conservation projects to preserve the variety and quantity of native plant life. They carefully maintain natural springs and actively expand Atlantic Forest vegetation along the banks of the river running through their land. Most impressively, a meticulously curated botanical preserve of rare and endangered native fruit plants is cultivated on the farm. Over 200 species are being properly classified and catalogued for future scientific study and culinary use.

In the cup, Boa Vista brings immediate savory and spice notes while coating the mouth with a buttery softness. Dominant flavors of pistachio and caramel emerge, accented with hints of cinnamon and milk chocolate. Though smooth and silky, Boa Vista is nicely balanced by a mild, raspberry-like acidity that provides enough liveliness to give the cup further dimension. The subtle raspberry quality carries through to the latter stages, ultimately joining presenting as an aroma note in the finish.