Brasil (Minas Gerais) - Fazenda Borges de Cima Natural

In the cup

This monocultivar coffee is a variety with a yellow ripening Yellow Catucaì is a carousel of flavors that revolves around the pivotal note of dried figs, surrounded by hints of nougat, orange peel, cloves, dried dates and much more, with a long finish of sweet malt chocolate.

The Producer

The mountainous area of Minas Gerais is the heart of the qualitative renaissance of Brazilian coffee, too long concentrated only on the intensive cultivation of conventional coffee at low altitudes. 

Here, in Camacho, Divino Borges, a pioneer of quality coffee in the area, founded with his wife Lourdes in 1978 the Borges de Cima Farm, a model plantation of 70 hectares, in Camacho. Thanks to the coffee, the couple managed to support the large family, and one of the eldest sons, Severo, continues today with four of his brothers to manage and develop the company.
Severo Batista Borges applies today the best of new knowledge to what best derives from tradition: a cultivation concentrated on the two cultivars Red and Yellow Catucaì, which best enhance the character of that terroir, and the revival of the method Natural on the ground, on the patio, however, made safe and precise by a maniacal and frequent measurement of all temperature and humidity parameters.

The processing

The lot AM3036 from which we obtain this extraordinary coffee is obtained from 100% Yellow Catucaì, harvested at very advanced maturation, to all intents and purposes the equivalent of what we would call in wine late harvest. A choice of maximizing the sweetness made possible by the great quality of the soil and the extreme attention to each stage of processing.

The unusual intense yellow color of the cherries when this cultivar ripens corresponds to specific aromatic contents that amplify the spectrum of scents and aromas linked to the world of yellow fruits (peach, apricot, medlar) and concentrates (dates and dried figs). The choice of re-adopting the drying method Natural however, accompanied by instruments and attentions aimed at minimizing the risks, it accentuates and emphasizes the specific character of the cultivar.

The roasting

The coffees natural, dried slowly in the sun with the pulp, to obtain sugars and aromas from this too, require a specific roasting approach: this will be longer and more delicate, especially in the initial phase, to ensure that the outermost parts of the grain, those that the pulp has released, can be incorporated into the final roasted bean, because losing them would mean losing the peculiarity of this process.