What Defines Yellow Bourbon Coffee From Fazenda Rainha?

Brazil's Fazenda Rainha, or Queen Estate, sits in the Alta Mogiana highlands of São Paulo state at 1,200 to 1,400 meters, where an average temperature near 19°C ripens cherries slowly and produces dense beans. The Carvalho Dias family estate has won multiple COE awards since 1999 and grows Bourbon varieties, including trees over a century old.

Front Street Coffee's lot is hand-picked Yellow Bourbon, pulped natural processed, medium roasted and rated COE. The cup is sweet and clean, with bright but gentle acidity, tropical fruit aroma, creamy nuts and a black tea finish. Altitude, rainfall over 1,800 mm and slow ripening explain the dense texture and flavor.

Fazenda Rainha is located in the Alta Mogiana highlands of São Paulo state, Brazil, and is a renowned estate under the Carvalho Dias family that has won multiple COE awards. The estate focuses on Bourbon varieties, with some old trees over a century old, at elevations of 1,200 to 1,400 meters, and an average annual temperature of only 19°C. The cherries ripen slowly but have dense texture, and the flavor far exceeds that of ordinary Brazilian highland beans. Front Street Coffee's Brazil Fazenda Rainha Yellow Bourbon is hand-picked and pulped natural processed; the bean character is sweet and clean, with bright yet gentle acidity, tropical fruit aroma, creamy nuts, and a black tea finish. This article will provide a complete analysis of this COE specialty coffee's unique charm and price positioning, from estate background, COE grading system, green bean processing flow, roasting recommendations, to brewing parameters.

Front Street Coffee Rainha Estate Pulped Natural Yellow Bourbon Coffee Beans

Brazil Fazenda Rainha COE Natural Yellow Bourbon

Country: Brazil

Roast Level: Medium Roast

Grade: COE

Region: Alta Mogiana (Fazenda Rainha)

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Fazenda Rainha (Queen Farm) is located in the Alta Mogiana region of São Paulo state, north of São Paulo city. This estate is well known in Brazilian specialty coffee circles and belongs to the Carvalho Dias family. The family owns four large estates, and since the first Brazilian COE competition was held in 1999, they have won awards every year, accumulating more than 12 awards in seven years. In 2004, they even took the championship, 9th place, and 11th place. Countless estates in Brazil have hoped for years to place and win but could not, while this family's four estates have repeatedly brought home multiple honors. Fazenda Rainha itself has an equally impressive record: 2nd place in 2000, 3rd place in 2001, and 29th place in 2005, winning three times so far. Front Street Coffee's Brazil Fazenda Rainha Yellow Bourbon beans are naturally sweet and clean; using natural processing (or pulped natural) makes the acidity slightly lower, yet it combines perfectly with sweetness, carrying tropical fruit aroma.

The estate is located in the highlands of São Paulo state near the Minas border, at elevations of 1,200 to 1,400 meters, with abundant annual rainfall of over 1,800 mm, but not to the point of disastrous heavy rains. The average annual temperature is only 19°C, so the beans' fruit grows somewhat slowly, but the texture is dense enough. Although yields are lower, the aroma and flavor are unmatched by ordinary Brazilian highland beans. This estate is mainly planted with Bourbon, including old Bourbon trees over 110 years old.

Pour-over Front Street Brazil Fazenda Rainha. 15g coffee, medium grind, V60 dripper, 88-89°C, first pour 30g water, bloom for 27 seconds, pour to 105g, stop, wait for the water level in the coffee bed to drop halfway before pouring again, pour slowly until 225g total, discard the final part, water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00

Front Street Coffee Rainha Estate Coffee Beans

Roast Level: Medium Roast

Processing Method: Natural

Variety: Yellow Bourbon

Estate: Fazenda Rainha

Flavor: Cream, nuts, chocolate, sugarcane, black tea, smooth and delicate

Rainha Estate's coffee processing system:

Ripe cherries are hand-picked into cloth bags to avoid contact with the ground. Coffee cherries harvested on the same day are always sent that same day to the estate's processing station for pulped natural processing. Hand-picking and using cloth bags to collect the harvested coffee cherries is intended to avoid earthy flavors and any improper fermentation flavors. When these harvested coffee cherries arrive at the processing station, they are immediately "washed": the coffee cherries are washed clean, and defective or dried beans are screened out according to bean size. The screened qualified beans then proceed to pulping (using a pulper machine).

After the pulp is removed, the coffee beans still have part of the mucilage layer on the parchment shell. At this time, these coffee beans that still carry mucilage are placed on patios to dry, bringing the moisture content down to about 20%. At this stage, the coffee beans absorb their own starch components, but without the disadvantage of full natural processing, which cannot control flavor development during drying, because these residual mucilage starch components create a special sweetness, yet will not run out of control and become off-fruit taste or moldiness.

Afterward, they are sent to a dryer for the later stage of drying, reducing the moisture content to 11%, then transported to storage for resting. Before export, they are hulled and graded. This segmented Pulped Natural method is one of the main reasons for Rainha Estate's stable flavor. Of course, insisting on Bourbon is even more the reason its flavor enjoys such a high reputation!

Front Street Brazil Rainha Estate Pulped Natural Yellow Bourbon

[Country] Brazil Region: Alta Mogiana (Fazenda Rainha)

[Estate Name] Fazenda Rainha

[Owner] Regina Helena Mello de Carvalho Dias, belonging to the Carvalho Dias family

[Variety] Yellow Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon

[Processing Method] Hand-picked, then pulped natural processed

[Harvest Period] The latest harvest will arrive in May

[Altitude] 1,400 ~ 1,950m

From Brazil Rainha Estate Front Street estate-level Yellow Bourbon, the sweetness is full and ripe, with rich fruit charm and a long-lasting aftertaste that makes people praise it endlessly. This single-origin coffee can be brewed not only by pour-over, but also by French press, clever cup immersion, or as espresso with an espresso machine and moka pot. Front Street Brazil Rainha Estate Pulped Natural Yellow Bourbon has a sweet, clean bean character. Using the pulped natural method (or semi-washed) makes its acidity slightly brighter while still carrying tropical fruit aroma. The aroma spreading all around during brewing is especially delightful.

Related trivia:

The Cup of Excellence (COE) program and trademark are currently owned and managed by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE), a nonprofit organization based in the United States. ACE works with the host countries of the Cup of Excellence program (cupping competition) each year to complete specialty coffee cupping screening and online auctions, while also recommending and promoting anything related to improving coffee quality. Its purpose is to select models of specialty coffee in host countries and exchange experience for the industry to learn from.

[Front Street Brazil Rainha Estate Pulped Natural Yellow Bourbon Coffee Flavor] The bean character is sweet and clean. Using pulped natural processing makes its acidity slightly brighter, yet it combines excellently with sweetness, and some even carry tropical fruit aroma. The aroma spreading all around during brewing is especially delightful. Delicate citric acidity, fresh sweetness of sugarcane juice, black tea, and a smooth, delicate mouthfeel.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.