I wanted to let you all know that the Brazil Sete Cachoeiras Estate - Rainforest Alliance coffee was given an award at the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) this year to recognize their quality among all the Rainforest Alliance Coffee produced.

When I went out for dinner with Renato Farhat Brito and his father Marcel Renato Brito, the owners of this estate, they had mentioned that when they entered this contest, they entered the exact same Lot of coffee we chose to import.

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Fratello just returned from another origin trip to continue our expansion and work with developing our Direct Trade coffee program. As we have mentioned before, our goal is to source our coffee this way when ever possible. It is a work in progress which will also include increased selections of Rainforest Alliance, Organic and Fair-trade Organic coffees. Direct Trade allows Fratello to source the best and most unique coffee lots before they are sold and blended with other lots at Cooperative which most farmers use. Through this practice Fratello pays our farmers 25%-35% more than what Fair-trade premiums would have paid them.

This time it was Russ, Jason and Angela Prefontaine who traveled to Nicaragua to visit Erwin Mierisch and his family. What an amazing journey this was. It was not only educational visiting 5 different farms in Matagalpa and Jinotega, but it was terrific getting to know Erwin better. We had the pleasure of touring around with Erwin, his cousin Ricardo Oliu and Erwin’s father, Erwin Mierisch Senior who was a gracious host and a pleasure to be around. We also had the pleasure of meeting Erwin’s sister Maria and Erwin and Ricardo’s wives. The Mierisch family has been cultivating these farms for 3 generations (Since mid 30’s).

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Starting March 1, 2008 you will be able to purchase this incredible Direct Trade coffee from Fratello Coffee Co.   We haven’t been this excited about offering our clients a coffee since the first lot of Cup of Excellence we won. 

This coffee cupped out at a 89.5, but if you were to include the look of the beans when scoring, this coffee would have been well into the 90’s.    These giant beans give this coffee a very unique look.  We found that this coffee gave us a spicy orange and fresh pine aroma which was complimented by the thick & syrupy mouth feel.  Flavor notes of black-bing cherry, candied cloves and apple pie are brightened with the delicate grapefruit acidity.   

Finca El Limoncillo - General farm information

This farm got its name from the unusual growth of lemon trees that were originally found here.  This is arguably their most beautiful farm (out of 5). 

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Wow….I just came from another amazing supping table, and this time it was samples of Nicaraguan’s.  2008 is going to be an amazing year for coffee qualities available through Fratello.  It has been a while since I’ve cupped consistently good coffees from all origins in Central and South America.

The most unique cup so far was what I tasted today.  A Nicaraguan Pacamara Peaberry….A GIANT peaberry.?.?..I have never heard of this variety before today.

I gave this coffee an 89.5.  The aroma on this gave hints of cinnamon, pine and a spiced orange.  The cup was clean and sweet and had flavors of black bing cherry, candied cloves, licorice and molasses.   Amazing.  It reminded me of a really good Ethiopian or Kenyan.  I’m going to do my best to get some of this for next year.  Wish me luck.
Check out the size of these beans compared to the penny:

Look for this coffee in 2008.  You will not regret trying this estate.

Fratello Coffee has found a new source for its Guatemalan coffee and is pleased to announce that it is certified by Rainforest Alliance.  We have chose to work with the Nueva Granada estate and will have this amazing coffee starting in December of this year. 

Guatemalan Nueva Granada – Single Estate - Rainforest Alliance Certified Cupping Score – 87.6 – Nutty & chocolate orange aromas prepare you for the dark chocolate and creamy/silky mouth feel with lingering and zesty orange acidity.  

Nueva Granada Estate Coffee
During the harvest, Nueva Granada selects only the ripest cherries, and when the beans are in parchment form, again grades the coffees and stores them in burlap bags in a special, dry, wood-line storeroom. Once an order comes from Fratello Coffee Co., the parchment covering is removed and Nueva Granada’s blue-green beans are carefully selected and prepared for shipment.

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Fratello Coffee won its 3rd auction with the Cup of Excellence program on November 15th. This was a fast paced auction with many different roasting and retail companies bidding on the 26 award winning lots. As far as we could see, this auction will result in the highest average prices over all. I congratulate the Cup of Excellence program for their marketing efforts, and for successfully organizing another amazing event.

Fratello Coffee was awarded the 13th placing winning coffee.  I remember this product well and found the characteristics in this coffee to show tastes of a Smokey Earth, a sparkling citrus and lingering acidity, with a clean body showing hints of Raisin.  I scored this with an 87.5, however the average score at the competition gave this a 86.21.  Overall this coffee is very balanced. 

For more information on this coffee and the farm it was produced on, please read (Read the rest of this post)

In August - Chris and Russ were in Brazil visiting the Sete Cachoeiras coffee estate. While there, they took some great photos of their tours and Russ decided to describe everything that he saw and learned - and we turned it into a Coffee Knowledge slide show. Click the picture below to launch slide show or click the Link. 

Russ & I had the pleasure of taking some of our staff down to Brazil last month on an educational buying trip. We met farmers committed to more then just quality coffee, but also who were committed to making a difference in the environment and to the lives of people who worked for them on their farms.

We look forward to bringing to Calgary some of these special coffees and the stories of the families who put so much heart into producing them. I want to give a special thanks to Schieder and the good people of Tristao Trading for hosting our Fratello family while in Brazil. It was a fantastic trip!

Gallery Series, refers to those one-of-a-kind coffees with extremely special or exciting flavor qualities, that when we cup them, we recognize as extraordinary. Like other organic food products, the flavor qualities of Gallery Series coffee reflect not just a particular geography, altitude, farm or varietal–they also reflect less fixed factors like weather and terroir–which is never exactly the same anywhere in the world from year to year. Because of this, Gallery Series coffees are limited edition coffees, so make sure to enjoy them when they are available…

  Bolivian coffee is truly a hidden gem of specialty coffee. I was very surprised at the quality of coffee being produced, in these small farms high in the Andes Mountains.  Growing conditions reach as high as 2500 meters above sea level.      Almost every farm is organic; however, not all are certified.  Typically these farms also grow other crops amongst their coffee trees such as orange, banana, and other tropical fruits.  Walking through these farms gives you a lot of history as many have been handed down for many generations. Their farms and processes methods are very small as most farms are never more than 10 hectares.  The growing conditions and processing methods are very typical of what would be found in Africa. You will find a lot of naturals, and semi-washed coffee on these farms.    

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