Close

7 days 7 coffees day 5

Day 5 and another huge coffee. We have seen Lagoa in the past, but not the icatu varietal from there. For more on this take a look here

Great to see the brazils rolling in again

This micro lot came as a really nice surprise and out of the blue. I got sent the sample blind and got really excited about it. You will see Lagoa at other roasters, but not this tiny micro lot.

Owned by the Vieira family this farm can be found in Sul de Minas the heart of Minas Gerais, the well known coffee growing region, with its rolling mountains, lakes and rich farmland.

In the slopes of Serra do Pau D’Alho, coffee is produced at altitudes ranging from 950 to 1200 meters. Fazenda Lagoa has 220 hectares in coffee, producing approximately 7000 bags a year, (which is huge in farm standards) and 600 hectares of preserved forest attracting conservationists from all over the world to study its hundreds of different bird species.

As I mentioned, lots of roasters have Lagoa (because of the size of the farm), so what makes this special? Well first it’s a pulped natural process and the varietal is yellow icatu. Icatu is an unusual varietal. With DNA in Iapar 59 and others, this relatively young varietal came to the forefront in 1985 in Brazil, but was officially released in 1993.

There are lots of sub varietals around icatu, most of them just sub variations. These hybrids are the result of repeated backcrossing of arabica with robusta hybrids to arabica cultivars with Mundo Novo and Caturra, and is by far the most complicated of the varietals I’ve looked at so far.

It has a strong resistance to leaf rust, and rootknot neratodes. A relatively young varietal its true potential as a specialty coffee has yet to be accessed but its pest resistance and it success in brazil’s COE competition show positive signs. In the cup too

So in the cup expect a super clean cup, buttery mouthfeel with nutmeg spice that lingures. But the big thing is its sweetness, like popcorn caramel thats delicious.

To buy click here

About the author Just Steve Leighton

I'm just Steve Leighton

All posts by Just Steve Leighton →

2 Comments

  1. I really like the amount of detail you’ve put in here about the varietal history, makes me really want to try this one. It will have to wait as I am drowing in coffee here at the moment and I’ve got the Bolivian you announced yesterday on the way as well.

  2. Thank you Mark, we try !!

Comments are closed.