Episode 602: Brazil Fazenda Inglaterra Natural Bourbon CoE Entrant

Fazenda Inglaterra is a farm we've been buying from for over a decade, and it's one that I am very proud to be working with and linked with. The owner is my very good friend, Stephen Hurst.

Each year, Stephen (can I just call him Hursty from now on?!) picks a lot from his farm to enter into the Cup of Excellence competition. Unusually, there are separate competitions for Pulped Natural and Natural processed coffees in Brazil. Hursty competed with a Natural this year.

Unfortunately for him, this lot was a hair’s breadth short of making it through. That works out well for us because it’s a really delicious coffee that we can now enjoy!

To tell the story of Inglaterra, I'll hand this over to Hursty to tell you how he came to own 'Inglaterra':

“Maybe it had always been an idea in the back of my mind – so a couple of years ago when some friends in Brazil mentioned that a small coffee farm was for sale, I had a look.

The farm's name (Fazenda Toca Da Onca) means 'hiding place of a small wildcat'. The locals now call the farm 'Inglaterra'. The previous owners had abandoned Toca Da Onca/Inglaterra. So we had to start again, almost from scratch. Some surviving coffee trees were pruned right back and the coffee that you are now drinking is that re-growth from the original old trees.

For the coffee people, the varietals are Icatu, Acaia and Catucai. In future I expect coffee cherry varietals to become as well known as wine grape varietals, and to a much wider audience. The farm is located near the lovely spa town of Poços De Caldas in the coffee-growing heartlands of Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. The farm's elevation is 950–1300 metres, and it has rich soil. It's on the edge of an ancient caldera/super volcano, whose outline can be seen on satellite images. 50% of the farm is virgin Mata Atlantica forest and as long as I own it, it will stay that way. I am replanting some areas with the help of my local friends Gabriel and Cristiano, without whose assistance this project would never have started."

This is everything I love about Brazilian coffees - there's loads of chocolate and caramel sweetness with a thick, creamy body which makes me think I left my choc-ice in the sun. There's almond and hazelnut in there too and on the aftertaste a juicy sultana.

• Country: Brazil
• Region: Minas Gerais
• City: Poços de Caldas
• Farm: Fazenda Inglaterra
• Owner: Stephen Hurst
• Farm size: 10 hectares
• Coffee growing area: 5 hectares
• Altitude: 1,200 m.a.s.l.
• Varietal: Bourbon
• Processing method: Natural

CUPPING NOTES Milk chocolate, caramel, almond, hazelnut, sultana

Clean cup: (1–8): 6
Sweetness: (1–8): 7
Acidity: (1–8): 6.5
Mouthfeel: (1–8): 7
Flavour: (1–8): 6.5
Aftertaste: (1–8): 6.5
Balance: (1–8): 6.5
Overall: (1–8): 6
Correction: (+36): +36

Total: (max. 100): 88

Roast Information
Medium-dark - through first crack and keep it going steadily towards second, but finishing the roast with no more than the very first pops of second in the cooling tray.