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On the seventh (reverse, posting / working) day of Christmas my true love roaster gave to me….

So for the next 12 working days (taking us up to the 22nd the last royal mail posting day) we have the Has Bean 12 days of Christmas for you, This is going backwards 12 days, not the traditional 12 days after Christmas (any excuse really to post).

This will involve a new coffee each day, to help you find inspiration for the perfect coffee for Christmas day. Some old favourites, some very new and exciting coffee that will become firm favourites I am sure.

So today instead on day seven a very old favourite is back, its a little piece of England from Brazil

Brazil Fazenda Inglaterra Canario Pulped Natural

A world exclusive coffee, only available as a Has Bean special.

This is a farm we are supporting for the eighth year, and one that I am very proud to be working with and be linked with, as the owner is my very good friend, Stephen Hurst.

I’ll let Stephen Hurst tell you the story of 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 (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 Pocos De Caldas in the coffee growing heartlands of Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. The farm’s elevation is 950-1300 meters, and it has rich soil and is 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 had started”.

Back to me!

So after Stephen bought the farm there was one varietal he decided to add to the stock. Canario is one of those varietals you would never plant if you had to survive on coffee for a living. Pests love it, its yield is so low, and the slightest change in temperature wil result in frost burn; a point proved this year with the cold snap experienced in Pocos de Caldas, which left over 25% of this crop damaged.

So why grow it? Well it just produces some of the most tasty coffee you can imagine, and something that Stephen had always wanted to ask producers to try but was too afraid to ask.

In the cup this is smooth and sweet, while having a vivid acidity: think pineapple meets chocolate spread. The mouthfeel is huge, and the aftertaste is long and very very juicy. A great example of a fine Brazil-grown coffee, purely due to cup quality and nothing else.

Farm: Fazenda Inglaterra
Farmer: Stephen Hurst
City: Poços de Caldas
Region: Minas Gerias
Country: Brazil
Farm Size: 10 Hectares
Coffee growing area: 5 Hectares
Altitude: 1,200 m.a.s.l.
Varietal: Canario
Processing System: Pulped Natural

you can buy it here 

 

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