Cerrado (also known as Hilado/Cerrado), which means "savage land" in Portuguese, has now become synonymous with Brazilian specialty coffee. This flat plateau at an altitude of about 1,000 meters, with its unique soil, abundant groundwater, and modern agricultural techniques, has completed a magnificent transformation from an ignored region to a world-class producing area. In 2005, the Brazilian government officially certified the "Cerrado Denomination of Origin," and only coffee beans that pass strict tests and score more than 75 points under SCAA evaluation can receive this honor. This article will take you through an in-depth understanding of the birth process of Cerrado coffee, the establishment of the CACCER producer association, ecological cultivation methods, two harvesting models, and the traceability system, and will also include a recommendation from Front Street Coffee. Whether you are a coffee enthusiast or a professional in the industry, you can feel from it the unique flavor and craftsmanship that this land gives to coffee.
The Birth of Brazilian Cerrado Hilado Cerrado Coffee
The Birth of Cerrado (Hilado, Cerrado) Coffee
About thirty years ago, Cerrado was still just a little-known name, a desolate mountain wilderness. In Portuguese, "Cerrado" means "savage land." Today, however, it is a world-renowned coffee-producing region. Cerrado enjoys exceptional soil and climate conditions. Locally, modern agricultural concepts from Japan were combined with Cerrado agricultural techniques to overcome the harsh natural environment, shifting from everyone giving up on growing coffee to achieving high quality and high yield. The land is located on a flat plateau at an altitude of about 1,000 meters, suitable for large-scale mechanized operations. Together with its unique soil and abundant groundwater, all of this ultimately created an indispensable high-quality coffee. In 2005, the high-quality Arabica coffee produced in Cerrado received official certification from the Brazilian government, called "Cerrado Denomination of Origin" (Hilado, Hilado, Cerrado coffee), which complies with international standards.
At present, Brazil's "Cerrado coffee" has become synonymous with high-quality coffee, and its name has gone beyond Brazil and become famous throughout the world coffee community.
Establishment of Caccer (Kaseru: Cerrado Producers Association)
CACCER (Kaseru) is a liaison organization among coffee producers in the Cerrado region of Minas Gerais State, Brazil.
Kaseru organizes Cerrado coffee growers, carries out regional marketing, coordinates Cerrado coffee origin quality certification (Cerrado Denomination certification), and has issued relevant standards.
Kaseru was founded in 1992.
Three years later, in 1995, 55 municipalities in the Cerrado region of Minas Gerais State were designated by the Brazilian government as the first certified coffee-producing region.
In 1997, Kaseru formally cooperated with the company and, as the Japanese representative, supplied coffee for Cerrado development, which we have achieved today.
After the establishment of Kaseru, quality assurance, which had previously been neglected, was established based on logistics barcodes and commodity exports, and now production history can be balanced.
In 2003, the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) concluded an agreement with Kaseru, and the SCAA coffee "taste" category was elevated to a consensus of expert opinions, while "taste" was separately excluded from previous evaluations, and now this is key.
Thereafter, regarding lot and assessment at the Cerrado Coffee Research Institute, certificates have been issued in accordance with the same SCAA and Kaseru regulations.
In addition, in 2005, considering proof of origin, with priority rights for coffee in the designated Cerrado region, Kaseru's Cerrado coffee origin quality certification (Cerrado Denomination certification) was issued.
Cerrado Denomination (Cerrado Coffee) is a high-quality brand
In 2005, due to the first right of designation of the Cerrado coffee region in the field of origin certification, production in this area, with coffee meeting the standard, "Cerrado Denomination," was claimed and recognized.
Like wine, coffee-producing regions only allow a limited quality "identity." With the successful acquisition of a world-class coffee region, the name "Cerrado" is now known.
To be called the "Cerrado Denomination," one must pass certification tests and production quality requirements. For production, the conditions of the so-called project rules (certified zone, production zone elevation, confirmed varieties, best soil, best agricultural techniques, participation in the guaranteed obligation plan) have been met, so that when planted in the designated certified area, the farm can bear the indication of Kaseru certification.
In addition, quality, condition, and evaluation methods with a score of more than 75 points under SCAA. All of our coffee deliveries consist only of those high-quality coffee beans.
Cerrado Farm Environment
In Cerrado, in addition to the temperate climate, irrigation facilities enable enterprises to always maintain stable quality production and supply.
In addition, during cultivation, with balance in the overall environment, spraying herbicides, and supplementing enough fertilizer nutrients for the weeds, the harvested weeds that dare to fill the land and enrich the humus will reduce the coffee trees produced, while nature's careful operation follows an earth-friendly and safe approach.
Therefore, traces of small animals and earthworms and armadillos are often seen on the ground, which is a characteristic of the unique Cerrado agricultural community.
A pig farm and livestock ranch next to the property can also be seen, one of the typical Cerrado agricultural landscapes.
Therefore, chicken and pork make it easy to obtain organic fertilizer from cattle manure compost, and in addition they are all scattered compost fruit cherries and parchment. Nourished by these environments, on the ground, it becomes a powerful natural organic ecology for Cerrado coffee.
Utopia Cerrado Coffee-Growing Region
I even worked for a day and felt a little shaken by the flat terrain and development.
Simultaneous flowering and irrigation equipment companies will even bring results.
Apply fertilizer to balance the environmental weeds. Coffee is reduced to covering this point.
In Cerrado, successful composting is easy, and composting is actively carried out on farms.
Spider webs and bird nests: birds that nest in coffee trees, but pesticide use must also be reduced, and harvesting must be done very carefully during the harvest period. Birds and spiders play an important role in cleaning up pests.
Jikabachi: Jikabachi is a blessing as a natural enemy of pests in coffee plantations. Coffee cultivation is the result of the natural suppression of pesticide use.
Two Harvesting Methods
1 Mechanized harvesting
At harvest, harvesting can be done with labor in about 150 minutes
If you are harvesting coffee cherries that are ripe, the long-awaited sister is rarely many days, and it is a change of maturity, so the new stage is already meaningless. Be careful not to remove beans that have just ripened persimmon and fallen when ripe, and leave less damage to the coffee trees from the harvester vibration.
2 Hand-picking coffee beans
Hand-picking ripe coffee beans in Cerrado coffee treatment is the harvest for one's own production.
The sweetness drawn from each bean is superior in the cherries cultivated by experienced growers, but with quality and the popularity of Cerrado possessing NO.1, it is a rare crop for which the annual agreement determines that there is a production limit.
It first lands in Japan, and with the first washing in September each year, these carefully selected ripe beans.
Inspection Methods for Cerrado-Expressed Harvest
Specific Gravity Separator Washing Formula
The process of gravity-type separator washing with beans that sink (immature + green beans and ripe beans)
The process of floating in the gravity-type separator washing with beans (beans that begin to dry on the vine and skin)
Filefish hulling machine removes some flesh from ripe beans. Now immature beans are screened with tight skin.
This machine removes pulped beans, filefish. Part with parchment pulp (mud).
Pulp is green beans that will not be removed by the filefish machine (in Brazil this is a second-grade immature bean)
Tanks help remove flesh and slime. However, because of environmental pollution (water pollution), farmers are allowed to use less Caccer.
All Cerrado coffee [ecological washed] has been carried out.
And the remaining part of the pulp (slime) is stabilized in the first vessel in the removal water. With the latest mechanical improvements added, less pure water can be used.
Storage in wood, with stabilized water, rested for at least two weeks.
Air-drying method for common bean purification Brazilian natural beans
Immature green beans, ripe beans, and even unseparated dried beans on the vine are dried with the sun (sunlight) and in a dryer for about one week.
Traceability
I can clarify how it is on the production farm
Coffee beans are born in Cerrado, and the TOC Cerrado program provides information on the quality of agricultural products at any time regarding their growth, and traceability can be verified (traceable detector).
The TOC Cerrado program (CERRAD Traceable Origin Coffee Program) is an accumulation of research results to date, the persistence of Cerrado's own quality beans, and the establishment of a system to provide, according to the continuity required by the buyer based on the origin of birth and green beans, and then a system to track the trajectory of the plan for understanding.
This system is researched by FUNDACCER "Cerrado Coffee Research Institute" and serves as a strategic business performance, and is equipped with a full range of systems for the global coffee market.
Quality Certification of Origin
It can be certified by the barcode region. The barcode is also sewn onto jute bags.
Source: Beibei Coffee Classmates Association
Front Street Coffee recommendation: Front Street Brazil Cerrado coffee beans, balanced in taste, with nutty and chocolate flavors, suitable for pour-over and espresso.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
