Brazil – Campo Alegre

ORIGIN

Brazil Campo Alegre

The cool, green hills of Sul de Minas provide ideal conditions for growing coffee. It’s no wonder that some of Brazil’s best specialty lots come from this region. Locally known as ‘Vertentes,’ the region forms the boundary between two major river deltas in Brazil: the Grande River delta (to the south) and the São Francisco River delta (to the northeast).

Henrique Dias Cambraia, owner and manager of Fazenda Campo Alegre, is the fourth generation to work this plantation. He has run the business with his brother and sister since 1993. The plantation house, built in 1825, was completely restored in 2006. He attributes the plantation’s success to a combination of factors: its location at an altitude of 1,200 meters, a stable climate averaging 21 degrees, skilled technical management of the plantation and fields, and ongoing staff training based on its own quality control programs.

Located around Santo Antônio do Amparo, the farm produces several Arabica coffee varieties, including this Catucai, a hybrid of Icatu and Catuai. This variety comes in red and yellow forms and is highly resistant to Roya (coffee rust). So-called single-origin lots are carefully kept separate to ensure high traceability. After picking, the ripe cherries are laid out to dry in the sun on patios; the beans are then crushed out of the dried cherries and processed further. This method gives the coffee a sweet and fruity character.

How we brew this coffee.

The perfect espresso recipe depends on many factors: machine, grinder, water, filter basket, beans, etc. At our bar in The Hague, we usually start with this recipe:

19 grams of coffee for an output of 45 grams of espresso (a double espresso).

We start with a 25-second extraction time.