Description
Roaster’s tasting notes:
This handpicked lot is replacement for the popular Rio Claro that will not disappoint. A new farm to us that is certified as carbon neutral and undertakes many eco-friendly practises.
Notes of milk chocolate, nougat and malt with a hint of peanut. A balanced sweetness and a smooth creamy body. Who wouldn’t want that?
Additional information:
Originally a psychologist, Monica Borges de Sousa, owner of Fazenda Vila Boa’s, decided to leave her profession behind to become a coffee producer. Now certified carbon neutral, Monica continues to push Fazenda Vila Boa forward, revolutionizing production techniques for the future of coffee.
Fazenda Vila Boa is located in the region known locally as Vertentes, as it forms a border between two important basins in Brazil: the Grande River Basin (which runs to the south) and the São Francisco River Basin(which runs to the northeast).Founded in 1988, Fazenda Vila Boa began after Monica inherited 90 hectares of farmland from her father .Monica decided to name her estate Vila Boa, or ‘pleasant town’, as the mission was to form an assortment of good, like-minded people. Monica and her husband, who at the time was still an engineer, began by planting the first 7-hectare terroir with coffee: known today as Campos das Vertentes. Since that time, Monica and her husband have developed a deep passion for specialty coffee, producing amazing lots, coring as high as 89 points. Today, Fazenda Vila Boa encompasses over1,000 hectares and produces both coffee and cattle for dairy production: what’s better than a flat white where you create both the coffee and the milk?
In order to produce such high-quality coffee, Fazenda Vila Boa follows a strict set of standards. The soil and leaves are regularly analysed at the lab for possible deficiencies, with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, carefully applied three times a year in the recommended dosages. The team at Fazenda Vila Boa also make ure to renovate 10% of the estate’s coffee trees each year, helping to keep their crop productive. As wel las renovation, Fazenda Vila Boa looks to expand its coffee crop by between 8-10% each year, meaning nearly a fifth of the farm is always under some form of renovation. Processing typically begins at Fazenda Vila Boa with the coffee cherry being selectively handpicked when the fruit is at its most ripe. Monica stresses the importance of handpicking, opposed to stripping, especially with the Yellow Bourbon crop, as although it produces large quantities of cherry, it also features a fast decline once the cherry is ripe. Handpicking is conducted by seasonal staff, as the estate’s workforce increases from30 to 80 people during the high season. Fazenda Vila Boa uses a number of different processing methods, producing natural, honey’d and fully washed coffees, rare for the region. As well as this, the team at Fazenda Vila Boa also experiments with several different fermentations, including both Anaerobic and Aerobic methods.
