Brazil FAF Caconde Serra Do Cigano
This coffee from FAF shows what Brazil coffee is truly capable of. In a country dominated by mono cropping, over farming and cheap, mass produced coffee, FAF (also known as Bob-O-Link) stands tall as a shining beacon of premium quality Brazilian coffee. This coffee is rich, creamy and balanced, all packaged in a delightfully clean cup. Look for big notes of toffee, peanuts, caramel and rich chocolate fudge.
Most coffee lovers know that Brazil exports more coffee than any other country in the world. What most don’t know, is that the overwhelming majority of that coffee is cheap, mass produced and destined for dark roasts and blends. FAF is different. When the Croce family took over their family farm in 2001, they set out to change all that and produce premium quality coffee based on profound respect for their land. So they founded FAF which stands for “Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza”—Environmental Fortress Farm, because if you don’t respect the land, it’s gonna grow bad coffee. Most folks know their coffee as Bob-O-Link, named after a local migratory bird, which was how they branded their early efforts. Since then, other farms in the area have joined their cause and are bringing the best Brazil has to offer to roasters all over the world.
Like most coffee from Brazil, this one is natural processed. Unlike most natural processed coffees, the profile is decidedly clean and focuses the profile on nutty and chocolate flavors rather than the fruit and berry notes one might expect. The cup is rich and creamy with very little acid on the front end, perfect for folks who want a more grounded cup. It’s got a smooth lingering finish and it’s fairly sweet. The dominate flavors are chocolate fudge, peanut, toffee and caramel. While it’s unquestionably a great cup all on its own, it also elevates blends and would be perfect for an old world, Italian style espresso.
Reminder! This coffee is raw, you must roast it before brewing
Arrival Date: August 26th, 2022. US Arrival July, 2022
Acidity & Brightness: Low acidity and fairly sweet.
Balance & Finish: Fairly balanced, smooth, lingering finish
Body & Texture: Rich, full bodied and creamy
Flavors: Toffee, peanuts, chocolate fudge and caramel
Grade: Grown at 1200-1350 masl
Processing: Natural (Dry) Processed
Grower: Sítio Boa Vista & Sítio Joaninha
Region: Cerro do Cigano, Caconde, São Paulo state, Brazil
Varietals: Red catauí and caturra
Recommended Roast Range: City+ to Full City+ (Light-Medium to Medium-Dark)
Start at City + (light-medium, near the trailing end of first crack) and go as dark as Full City+ (medium-dark or at the very first snaps of second crack) depending on your desired flavor profile. Lighter roasts will feature more vibrant sweetness while darker roasts will really bring out the peanuts and toffee notes. Full medium roasts will be very balanced and is likely the preferred roast level for most.
Royal Coffee - "FAF Coffees is a specialty exporter in Brazil founded by the Croce family. During their years spent struggling to revive the soils of their own family farm in the Mogiana region, the Croces connected with like-minded growers struggling as well to make farming viable for the next generation, with a strong focus on their immediate ecosystems—the watersheds and canopies that made the land worth living on—as well as quality, as means to economic independence and self-esteem. Over the years the Croce’s network of farmers grew. FAF now exports coffee on behalf of 150 small and sustainable farms throughout the Mogiana region, and increasingly, other pockets of entrepreneurial small growers dedicated to the same combination of cup quality, environmental health, and community strength, exuberantly referred to in the FAF network as “total quality”. This particular lot is a micro-blend of 2 farms located in the community of Cerra do Cigano, or “Gypsy Hill”, in the municipality of Caconde, a rolling, mountainous area with steep slopes and abundant natural springs, populated mostly by legacy family homesteads. Sítio Boa Vista is one of the very first farms to join the Croce family in their mission to transform their land, when very few buyers in the world expected specialty coffee from Brazil. The farm is 17 hectares and entirely hand-harvested. It is managed by Gertrudes and her husband Celso, and their son Denner, and includes extended family members to manage the harvest. The second farm, Sítio Joaninha, is run by Valdir José Ferreira, whose grandparents first moved to Caconde 35 years ago. After spending holidays on the farm and learning the lifestyle, he moved to the region himself and established Joaninha, a 7-hectare estate, which is now home to Valdir, his wife Daniela, their two children, and Valdir’s parents, all of whom help run the farm. “Joaninha” translates to “ladybug”, named after his mother’s experience of watching agro-chemicals destroy the once thriving ladybug population on the farms, killing off the land’s natural pest control—the family’s mission is to farm regeneratively and bring the ladybugs back. Both farms utilize raised beds for drying naturals, which are constantly rotated and sorted by the families during the drying. Boa Vista and Joaninha have become evangelists within FAF’s network and synonymous with the effort to revive small coffee farms and create a new market for the “other” Brazil: the harder-to-access family plots with high quality potential and an embodiment of community ideals deserving of visibility among specialty roasters. ”
