Brazil, where the sun is always shining

The summer has taken a wrong turn somewhere. This is bad even for Glasgow. So to perk you lot up I decided to open the sack of Brazil and wow thats what I call a bag of sunshine! 

Philip, Jamie and myself have spent the morning cupping different roasts then putting them through a v60, plunger and finally a chemex. each roast gave us a very different profile and a very good understanding of the coffee as a whole. The first profile was very zesty and rather heavy bodied. We all preferred this roast served in a plunger as it kept the oils but then served in a v60 it was sweeter. The second profile had all of this - the lovely zesty oils and the creamy sweet orange tones. The third profile had nothing. bla. nothing. All in all its been a very buzzy morning, the perfect way to spend this miserable morning! 

now its time to learn about this coffee..

 The farm (fazenda Irarema)is located at an altitude of some 1,000 to 1,300 meters in the foothills of the Serra Da Mantiqueira mountain range. Its around 4 hours drive from San Paulo right in the heart of Brazils coffee growing region, Mogiana.

The area has very fertile volcanic soil and plentiful water supply - Mantiqueira derives from an old indigenous 
Tupi-Guarani word meaning 'mountains that cry' after the many springs and streams that flow off the range.
Irarema has been producing coffee since 1893 - and some of its original Bourbon trees remain. The farm is planted out with a total of 200 hectares of Arabica - 40% is Bourbon.

Its current owner,  Raymond Rebetez - who also runs the neighboring Lambari Estate. Has since set about modernising its infrastructure, investing in state of the art milling and warehouse facilities all while maintaining the farms long established bourbon varietals. The farm is now equipped to produce small fully traceable lots, carefully prepared to protect quality. Before it is shipped the coffee is tasted by a BSCA cupper to monitor the final quality of the coffee. 
As a BSCA member farm, Irarema also has strict environmental and social regulations in place Raymond Rebetez has remarked that 'agriculture is the art of interfering in ecosystems without causing irreversible damage'. Environmental and social sustainability must go hand in hand with the pursuit of quality.