Aloizio & Guilherme‚ Brazil (natural) Specialty Coffee

Aloízio and Guilherme produce varietals Red Acaiá, Mundo Novo, Red and Yellow Catuaí. His Yellow Catuaí is the coffee we call Flor de Jasmin. We, from KAVAZ BRAZIL, already reserved for every year this same coffee. It has a very complex profile due to the high altitude where it grows: 1.460 meters, and all the special care Aloizio and his partner Guilherme give to their farm.

When we met these friendly farmers in July 2021, they told us, to our surprise, that we bought their coffee in its first birth. It was planted in 2017 and in 2020 it was harvested for the first time and sent to us. The photos below are precise of the plantation of Flor de Jasmin – Yellow Catuaí. As you can see in the photos, trees look very healthy, beautiful, and well cared for in their second crop. We got their whole production of this year. And in this second birth of this plantation results are even better than the first one. The cupping score is 87/89. Sitio Santo Antonio was not affected by the frosts, due to the altitude, as frosts usually burn trees at lower levels. Their region is called “Mantiqueira de Minas” which is officially recognized in Brazil as the region of high-quality coffees.

 

This lot was processed as a full natural. The natural process begins at the farm by only selecting optimally blood red, ripe cherries. These are floated and then carefully transported to the dry mill where they are then spread as a thin layer on plastic tarps. These cherries are carefully moved within their assigned space approximately three times a day: We always make sure we do not damage the cherry while they are moved. On the ground, we place a thick layer of parchment which we then cover with a black-colored polymeric material net that allows air to pass between the ground and the coffee; allowing a more even dry. This Yellow Catuai dried on the tarps for the first three days under 100% sunlight, in order to prevent over fermentation or mold growth. After this, it was transferred onto the African beds where it dried with 75% shade for an additional 24 days until it reaches a humidity range of 11.5% or below. The total drying time for this lot was 27 days. Once dried, they are moved to our warehouse where they will rest as dried cherries for a month to homogenize the humidity in the beans. This slow drying process will also extend the shelf life of the beans as the embryo will be kept alive for as long as possible.

 

Arabica Variety Yellow Catuai
A cross between highly productive Mundo Novo and compact Caturra, made by the Instituto Agronomico (IAC) of Sao Paulo State in Campinas, Brazil. The plant is highly productive compared to Bourbon, in part because of its small size, which allows plants to be closely spaced; it can be planted at nearly double the density. The plant’s shape makes it relatively easy to apply pest and disease treatments. It is mainly characterized by great vigor and its low height; it is less compact than Caturra. It is highly susceptible to coffee leaf rust. Catuaí derives from the Guarani multo mom, meaning “very good." Today, it is considered to have good but not great cup quality. There are yellow-fruited and red-fruited types and have since been many selections in different countries. The cultivar was created in 1949 from a crossing of yellow Caturra and Mundo Novo, and was initially called H-2077.
The variety was released in Brazil in 1972 after pedigree selection (selection of individual plants through successive generations) and is in wide cultivation there. In Brazil, there are multiple lines of Catuai available; some are notable for their high productivity. The Catuaí lines transferred to Central America seem to be less productive; studies in Honduras and Costa Rica found no significant differences in productivity have been observed between Caturra and Catuaí.