Fazenda Progresso Pulped Natural (Bahia) 2011/12

This coffee is available in 60kg PET bags. PET bags are a synthetic alternative to the traditional jute bag that can be handled in the same way but will not impart any baggy ‘jutey’ taint to the coffee over time. PET bags are also fully recyclable at certain recycling centres.

Fazenda Progresso is a relatively young coffee farm that lies at around 1,150 metres in the mountainous Chapada Diamantina region of Bahia, northern Brazil. This 22,000 hectare family business started life in 1984 as a vegetable farm and is now one of Brazil’s largest potato producers - but only diversified into coffee relatively recently.

The Borré family has since invested heavily in developing Progresso’s coffee infrastructure. The farm already has a grand total of 687 hectares under coffee, which the family aims to extend to 1000 hectares by the end of 2012. The farm has also built its own processing facilities on site, which produce washed, pulped natural and natural coffees. Progresso’s coffee division currently employs some 200 permanent workers, swelling to between 400 and 500 during harvest.

The harvest usually runs from June until September, during which the first two passes are picked by hand. This particular lot from Progresso is a pulped natural process coffee - the ripe cherries are pulped and then dried in the sun on concrete patios for 24 hours with the sticky mucilage still attached. They are then being finished off in guardiola dryers until they reach the optimum humidity level. The beans are rested and stored in parchment until immediately prior to export.

Cupping Date: 

20 January 2012

Sweetness: 

Sugary

Acidity: 

Bright

Mouthfeel: 

Smooth

Flavour: 

Orange Demerara Sugar

Balance/Overall: 

Well balanced

Overall: 

Bright, sweet and well balanced, with some lovely citrus notes. A great all rounder that would work as well as a filter brew as it would as an espresso.