Why does yellow bourbon coffee cost what it does?

Brazil is the largest coffee producer, and its bean costs depend on farm, variety and processing. Take Queen's Farm, also called Fazenda Rainha, in Sao Paulo near Sao Sebastiao da Grama. This yellow bourbon coffee grows at 1400 to 1950 meters, comes from the Carvalho Dias family, and has won recognition at Brazil's Cup of Excellence competition.

The pulped natural process gives the lot a clean sweetness with slightly bright acidity, and some lots show tropical fruit notes. Roasted beans sell for 45 yuan per 227-gram box, which works out to about 3 yuan per cup at 15 grams per serving. That makes this single-origin option easier to drink daily than the tens of yuan per cup charged in many cafes.

As the world's largest coffee producer, Brazil's coffee bean costs and prices have always been a focus of interest for enthusiasts. This article starts with the cost structure of Brazilian coffee, then recommends a highly cost-effective specialty single-origin coffee—Front Street Brazil Queen's Farm Natural Yellow Bourbon. This farm belongs to the renowned Carvalho Dias family and has repeatedly won COE Cup of Excellence awards. The article provides detailed information on the farm's background, cultivation and processing methods, green bean analysis, roasting curve, cupping flavors, and pour-over parameters, along with iced coffee preparation suggestions. Front Street's own-roasted Brazilian coffee beans sell for only 45 yuan per 227-gram box, with a cost of about 3 yuan per cup, offering both quality and value, suitable for daily drinking.

Front Street Brazilian Coffee Beans Brand Recommendation

FrontStreet Coffee's own-roasted Front Street Brazilian Coffee Beans offer full assurance in both brand and quality. More importantly, the cost-effectiveness is extremely high—a 227-gram box costs only 45 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams of grounds per cup, one bag can make 15 cups of coffee, costing only about 3 yuan per cup, which is a truly honest recommendation compared to the tens of yuan per cup charged by cafés.

Front Street Brazil Queen's Farm Natural Yellow Bourbon

【Country】Brazil Region: São Paulo, near São Sebastião da Grama

【Farm Name】Queen's Farm (Fazenda Rainha)

【Owner】Regina Helena Mello de Carvalho Dias, belonging to the Carvalho Dias family

【Variety】Yellow Bourbon

【Processing Method】Hand-picked, then pulped natural process

【Origin】Brazil Queen's Farm (Mogiana) region.

【Variety】Yellow Bourbon

【Altitude】1400–1950m

【Processing Method】Natural

【Flavor】Clean and sweet; the pulped natural process gives it a slightly bright acidity that pairs excellently with sweetness, some lots even showing tropical fruit notes.

【Farm Introduction】:

This Front Street pulped natural Yellow Bourbon coffee comes from Fazenda Rainha (Queen's Farm) in Brazil. The farm covers 280 acres and is located in Vale da Grama, an ancient volcanic valley in Brazil.

In 2011, the farm won the championship in Brazil's COE competition. Queen's Farm (Fazenda Rainha) belongs to the prestigious and highly respected Carvalho Dias family. The four major farms under Carvalho Dias have won awards every year since the first Brazil COE competition in 1999, winning more than 12 times over 7 years. In 2004, they even swept the championship, 9th place, 11th place, and more. Many large and small farms in Brazil

have hoped for years to place in the awards without success, yet this family's farms have carried off multiple awards year after year. Even the Queen's Farm (Fazenda Rainha) purchased this time enjoys a brilliant record: 2000 runner-up, 2001 third place, 2005 29th place. To date, Queen's Farm has won awards 3 times.

The Carvalho Dias family is also a founding member of the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association. Their commitment to coffee quality and environmental preservation is evident to all. On the family's farms, natural waterfalls are used to develop pollution-free hydroelectric power, meeting their own electricity needs (another award-winning farm in the family is named Waterfall Farm after this waterfall). They have built churches, classrooms, nurseries, and medical stations, insisted on preserving native flora and fauna in the original forest, and maintained continuous reforestation. As for Queen's Farm specifically, environmental protection is quite thorough. Due to the higher elevation and non-flat terrain, machine harvesting cannot be used, so all fruit is harvested entirely by hand. They cultivate low-yield, high-quality Bourbon varieties, making it a representative estate of premium Brazilian coffee beans !

Queen's Farm's Coffee processing system:

Ripe cherries are hand-picked into cloth bags to avoid contact with the ground. Coffee fruit harvested on any given day is always sent the same day to the farm's processing station for Pulped Natural processing. Hand-picking and using cloth bags to collect the harvested coffee cherries is to avoid earthy flavors and any improper fermentation notes. When these harvested coffee cherries arrive at the processing station, they immediately undergo "washing": the coffee cherries are washed clean, and unqualified or dried fruits (bean beans) are sorted out by bean size. The screened qualified beans then continue to the pulping step (using a pulper machine).

The farm has 200 acres of Yellow Bourbon coffee trees. The rolling mountainous terrain makes large-scale mechanical harvesting impossible, so all coffee here must be harvested by hand.

The farm uses natural/pulped natural processing methods. The pulped natural method involves drying on raised beds and drying machines. After mechanical screening, manual sorting is also added. The extensive work requires farm employees to live on the farm year-round. All employees and their families enjoy housing, healthcare, and education benefits here.

The farm is a member of a medium-scale farm organization in the local Grama Valley, mainly exporting Bourbon variety specialty coffee. The organization's office is located in nearby Poços de Caldas, and they also have a national-level cupping laboratory equipped with large warehouses. The organization also collaborates with local universities and other institutions on research, including Lavras University—the renowned Dr. Flavio Borem comes from that university's agricultural research center.

Queen's Farm Award Record:

2014 COE Cup of Excellence 13th place

2013 COE Cup of Excellence 2nd place

2012 COE Cup of Excellence 8th place

2011 COE Cup of Excellence Champion

2010 COE Cup of Excellence 20th place

2009 COE Cup of Excellence 6th place

2008 COE Cup of Excellence 14th place

【Related Trivia】:

The Cup of Excellence (COE) program and trademark are currently owned and managed by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE), a non-profit organization. Each year, ACE works with host countries of the Cup of Excellence program (cupping competition) to complete the cupping selection and online auction of specialty coffees, while also suggesting and promoting anything related to improving coffee quality. The goal is to select exemplary specialty coffees in host countries and exchange experience for the industry to learn from.

This bean is 100% Yellow Bourbon, whose lineage can be traced back to the birthplace of Bourbon—Reunion Island in Madagascar. In the 18th century, French explorers first brought coffee here, so this variety has another nickname: French Missionary. In the 20th century, it was brought to the African continent and then introduced to Brazil. Its derived varieties are now found throughout Africa and the Americas. Bourbon grown in Brazil develops yellow fruit due to the influence of a recessive gene.

Brazil Queen's Farm Green Bean Analysis

This bean uses the Cereza descascado method (pulped method) invented in Brazil. This natural processing method, similar to honey processing, makes the coffee flavor more rounded, with an effect between washed processing and full natural processing. During processing, a small amount of water is first used to remove the pulp and skin, then the coffee is directly placed on raised drying beds. It is constantly turned during drying to ensure all coffee is exposed to sunlight. After several days of drying, mechanical drying follows to reach the appropriate moisture content.

The processed coffee beans are relatively stable in nature and can be stored for a long time. They have low moisture content and relatively large bean size—98% of beans reach screen size 16 or above, and half reach screen size 18.

Brazil's grading system scores based on defect ratio, size, flavor, and cup quality. It is an independent grading system, more complex than those of other countries. For example, "Brasil Santos NY 2 SC17/18 SS FC"—NY2 is the defect ratio grade: the higher the number, the more defects. The sequence is 2, 2/3, 3, 3/4……; NY indicates grading based on New York standards. The green bean aroma has a very intense fermented berry fragrance.

【Roasting Analysis】

Front Street Brazil Queen's Farm Yellow Bourbon green beans have a solid texture and excellent flavor expression, with slight orange peel and spice notes.

Green bean moisture content: 9.9%

This Front Street Brazil Queen's Farm bean has relatively low moisture content, which gives the bean a strong heat absorption capacity. So the roasting plan is to charge at 200°C, then use high heat and low airflow to speed up dehydration. After the dehydration phase ends, open to medium airflow and medium heat for the Maillard reaction, without rushing the time, and drop near the end of first crack.

After test-roasting 4 times, the final choice was to drop between 1 minute 45 seconds and 2 minutes after first crack ends. The flavor has obvious sweetness, but not a boring sweetness. There is a faint lemon aroma in the background, which is more prominent during the wet aroma stage. The finish shows distinct dark chocolate notes. The overall experience is relatively rounded, expressing Brazil's overall characteristics while remaining lively.

Charge amount: 550g

【Cupping】

Dry aroma: roasted hazelnut, cinnamon

Wet aroma: slight tropical fruit aroma, cream, brown sugar

On the palate: delicate nutty notes, fruity notes, creamy peanut

【Pour-over Record】:

【Reference】

Front Street Brazil Queen's Farm, 15g grounds, 1:15 ratio, medium grind for pour-over (EK43s grinder setting 10.5), V60 dripper, 88–89°C water temperature.

First pour: 30g water for a 30-second bloom. Pour to 105g and stop. Wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half before pouring again. Slowly pour until reaching 225g total. Discard the final drips. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

【Flavor】The bean is sweet and clean. The pulped natural process gives it a slightly bright acidity that pairs excellently with sweetness. Some lots even show tropical fruit aromas, and the aroma that fills the air during brewing is especially delightful. Fresh sugarcane sweetness, black tea, soft and smooth fruit sweetness, distinct nutty flavors, balanced and gentle acidity, faint and clean bitterness, with rich chocolate aroma and nutty flavors. The cup is bright and refreshing, with a smooth and delicate mouthfeel.

Use this Front Street Brazilian Coffee Bean Fazenda Rainha【Queen's Farm】to make an iced coffee. Weigh 15g of grounds, grind fine like caster sugar, brew with 88°C hot water. Place 100g of ice in the sharing pitcher. Bloom with 30g of water for 30 seconds, stirring gently during the bloom. After the bloom, pour water to 150g and stop. It drinks smooth, with prominent chocolate and nutty flavors and obvious sweetness—perfect for a cup in this kind of weather.

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