Fazendinha is a natural process Brazil from our suppliers Nordic Approach. It's a stunning example of Brazilian coffees that gone a step beyond the standard profile from this amazing origin. We have sourced coffees like this before, such as the current Lillian Cajjiro and the amazing La Esperanza - both of which demonstrated how complex and refined Brazil coffee profiles can be when farmed, processed and imported with a little care and love.
Fazendinha is a coffee with layer upon layer of flavour, making it a much more complex affair than most Brazils. It offers a mix of flavour notes including grapefruit, sweet hazelnuts and light florals. It's not an overly heavy coffee, with a medium palm sugar body alongside bright citric acidity.

Processing

Emilio’s coffees are Natural, meaning the cherries are dried whole. In 2019 he started doing some cherry fermentation, allowing the cherry some hours after being picked to ferment before being dried. Normally this process gives you the perception of a sweeter coffee, this is because through fermentation microbes create compounds called esters that are absorbed by the seed. These esters survive the roasting process and are precursors to aromas that are created in the caramelisation process of roasting, this makes the coffee seem sweeter.

Drying

The first lot Nordic Approach ever bought from Emilio was dried directly on the ground, the next year he had laid a concrete patio with a cover that can be moved by wheels. This year, again, he has made improvements by building raised drying beds. This demonstrates his desire to improve and refine his coffee quality.

The Farm & Location:

Fazendinha was founded in 2012. It is a 16 hectare farm with around 7 hectares used for growing coffee. It is located in Conceição das Pedras, which is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais in the Southeast region of Brazil, a state famous for growing exceptional quality coffee.

The Farmer:

Emilio and his wife Rosana bought 50 hectares of land in Conceição das Pedras, Sul de Minas, in 2013. They didn’t have a lot of resources, but the farmer who owned the land offered them good terms - they could put their house and cars as a security deposit, and pay off the farm over three years.

The farm was already planted with Sarchimor, and their first harvest was good. They earned enough to make their first payment on the land, and the future looked bright. Alas the following harvest was disastrous, both volumes and quality were way down, and they didn’t earn enough to make the repayment on their loan. They lost their house and cars, and returned all but 16 hectares to the original owner.

Starting from zero, the couple took a bold decision. They tore out the Sarchimor trees and planted Yellow Bourbon. They hoped this variety would take well to their soil, and deliver the quality they needed to earn a decent price for their coffee. Emilio’s father runs a coffee nursery and he remembered selling some seedlings thirty years ago to another farmer, so he contacted his customer from so many years ago, and sourced some seedlings.

The following years were tough for Emilio and Rosana. Together with their three kids, they were renting a home, and working to bring in some income while they waited for their Yellow Bourbon trees to grow. They even picked coffee for other farmers in these years.

Their first major harvest was in 2017, and a neighbour convinced a reluctant Emilio to take a sample to Cafebras, an exporter with a specialty program. Emilio was busy, and he didn’t believe this first crop would yield much by way of quality, but he found the time and made it to the Cafebras office to drop off a sample.

Every year Cafebras run a quality competition. All lots that are scored 84 and above by their quality control team are entered into a special cupping, and five eminent cuppers from Brazil are invited to judge the competition. In 2017, Emilio’s was the top lot, with a score of 90.25!

Brazil - Fazendinha

Machina was created by two people looking for their next creative challenge. One, an ex DJ and producer (and coffee nerd) from the music industry, the other, a long time coffee industry professional with a background in training (and an apparent obsession for show singing).

They met through a mutual friend, again through music (a common theme). From here Machina took on it's own momentum, which is an extraordinary story of people, coffee and lots of equipment (that's a lot of equipment...), on a path to becoming a respected speciality coffee roastery.

The business started off as just equipment, but was always working towards one goal - becoming a premium speciality coffee roastery. We just needed to raise funds, and ideally do it without needing to bring in investors who would (no doubt) push us in a direction that we didn't want to go in. We had a vision, and the only way to ensure that actually happened, was to do it ourselves.

Brazil - Fazendinha

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Brazil - Fazendinha

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