Overview
Our first Brazilian single origin offering in quite some time is a familiar face that’s been working with the team at Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza (FAF) for two decades. This is our second time purchasing from João Hamilton, the passionate leader of FAF’s producer network in the Caconde region.
We’ve been working over the past few seasons to continue digging deeper with our purchasing model here and focus on building relationships with single producers. Time and time again, coffees from João’s farm, Sítio Canaã, have been some of our favorites on the cupping table.
From João:
We produce coffee on our 10 hectare farm at an altitude that ranges from 1200 to 1340 meters above sea level. The varieties we produce are Catuai, Mundo Novo, Sumatra, and Bourbon. Our production was traditionally commodity and our goal was always to produce as much quantity as possible while using various agro-toxic chemicals. We did not respect Mother Nature nor the quality of the coffee. In recent years this system of commodity coffee has ceased to be sustainable for us.
In 2006, Marcos from Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza invited our family [João and his brother Ivan] to take part in a new sustainable method in producing coffee. The objective became to achieve the highest quality while simultaneously respecting nature, reforesting the area around our springs, recycling our trash, refraining from utilizing toxic fertilizers and herbicides giving the practice of cultivating coffee a new inspiration and hope.
Our family adopted new processes in order to improve the quality of our coffee. We began to harvest selectively for the ripest cherries, to do semi-washed pulped cherries, and worked with more carefulness on the drying patio. The new partnership between the Joao Hamilton and Ivan family with Marcos (FAF) is allowing for dreams and hopes to be realized.
João Hamilton’s respect for nature, selective cherry picking, and acute attention to detail in the natural drying process, results in some of the cleanest and sweetest coffees in all of Brazil. Big red fruit flavors pair harmoniously with a creamy body and notes of almond and nougat. Huge PB&J vibes. We’re tasting: grape jam, cooked cherry, vanilla, nougat, brown sugar, almond butter, chocolate candy bar.
Relationship
Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza (Environmental Fortress Farm) is the premier coffee farm in Brazil and a leader amongst the international coffee community. This is our oldest producer relationship, dating back to our humble beginnings in the early 2000s, when we first met Marcos Croce, Silvia Barretto, and the family. With quality control spearheaded by their son and our dear friend, Felipe Croce, the attention to detail in terms of lot selection and separation is paralleled by few companies the world over. We have sourced different lots from their farm and many of the connected farms working under the FAF banner over the years. As their knowledge and skills of organic farming and proper processing techniques continues to grow, so does the network of other families that are working with FAF and adopting the same methods. Their goal is beautifully simple - promote total coffee quality and sustainability and find other farmers who share the same desire. For the FAF family, this concept of total quality is “found at the intersection of sensorial quality with holistic sustainable practices that ensures quality of life for all involved. Coffee quality comes first, and it is what gets you in the door. This must be followed up with more farms switching to organic or more sustainable alternatives. Planting new varieties, improving processing, and producing better tasting coffee. Building a new generation with a bright future.”
FAF’s vision of how to properly treat our planet and our environment is truly inspiring. They’re consistently raising the bar for the model of sustainability in coffee production, not only for Brazil but for the entire world. More from one of their websites (bobolinkcoffee.com): With altitudes ranging from 1000-1400 meters, this coffee is all family farmed. Instead of treating coffee as a homogenous product, we believe in focusing on smaller lots and harvesting unique flavors. We are a network of farmers working together and exchanging information in order to innovate, evolve, and produce some of the most special coffees in the world. Our philosophy is to achieve the highest quality out of each bean, while taking into account social and environmental responsibility. Our agricultural methods aim to produce in harmony with nature. This means both utilizing nature to create a healthy balance of shade and rich soil, respecting the habitats of animals and keeping springs and waterways clean.
Processing
FAF works with specific leaders in different growing regions who serve as point people to assist with organization of farmers and coordination of spreading information. In the particular case of the Serra dos Ciganos community in Caconde, we have João Hamilton!
João began working with the FAF family in 2006, and they very quickly formed long-lasting friendships. It was instantly clear that he is a natural leader; throughout the years he took it upon himself to start assisting his neighbors in perfecting their post harvest processing techniques. Together, with the help of João and the FAF team, they shifted towards an entirely new production model. They began to treat coffee as a quality beverage and not just a grain to be auctioned off to a local buyer. The families throughout this area have used this period to improve the health of their coffee plantations, maximizing the potential of the incredible terroir of the region.
FAF has recently invested in building a centralized mill and drying station in the region, called Serra dos Ciganos Station, that services 40 family farms in the area. João Hamilton oversees all of the operations here - proper drying of coffees on African-style raised beds, storage, and milling. The majority of coffee in this region is naturally processed, so the seeds will remain stabilized within the dried fruit until it is time to export. All of João’s coffee from Sítio Canaã is dried here on raised beds for a total of 15 - 20 days.
Brewing
If your coffee tastes overly nutty, slightly sour, and the mouthfeel is thin or watery - like boiled peanuts - try grinding finer.
If your coffee tastes more like bittersweet chocolate (versus the ideal sweeter, milk chocolate flavors) and the mouthfeel is cloying and gritty - like cocoa powder - try grinding coarser.
