Aug 2016: Brazil Mantissa Natural CoE #5
Coffee of the Month
A solid, rich, award-winning Brazil natural. This coffee starts with a ripe strawberry aroma in the cup and is tied together with pineapple, tropical fruit, milk chocolate and hazelnut.
The farm, Fazenda Mantissa, is located in the Minas Gerais region. Unlike most Brazil coffee this coffee is hand picked, which we believe really shows a focus on quality and gives it an advantage over the bulk of its competition in Brazil, where mechanical harvesting is the norm. The coffee is a yellow Catuaí so picking requires a great deal of skill. Ripe yellow vs unripe yellow can be challenging, but oh the results if done well! The yellow varietal leads to more of a tropical note in the fruit flavours which is great against the chocolate and nuttiness.
This is also a natural coffee. The natural coffee process is similar to red wine in that you take more of the product and its flavour characteristics, in particular the skin, into the final drink. Natural coffee processing is when the coffee cherry is picked from the tree and not pulped. The cherry is left to dry with the fruit on the bean, thus making an extremely fruity cup. Once the fruit is dried completely the coffee is hulled and the coffee dried fruit is removed. 80% of of Brazil’s farms use this production process, which is rather fascinating!
No water is used with this production method. In a world where water is becoming scarcer and scarcer, we like to encourage and reward the production of high quality natural coffees which are better for the planet. Enjoy!
Guest Tasters
Tom Baker & Georgie Leach
Mr Black Spirits
This month we had Tom and Georgie in from Mr Black Spirits to test out the Mantissa Natural CoE #5 from Brazil. Tom founded Mr Black with his business partner Phillip Moore back in 2013 and the team have been working hard on their signature coffee liqueurs ever since. On starting the company Tom said, “We love coffee. But being distillers and coming from the bar industry we thought it was time to bring specialty coffee to the spirits industry.”
We’re thrilled they did, because we have now collaborated on two brilliant liqueurs with them, most notably the world’s first Panama Geisha Coffee Liqueur.
Now, onto the coffee! It was the first time Tom and Georgie had done a cupping session but right out of the gates they started hitting notes of dark chocolate and cherry on the nose, and in the mouth lots of strawberries, pistachio and a creamy, gentle acidity. They nailed it, and it was great to show them the ropes of the cupping table! Hopefully they can use the skills to craft some more delicious liqueurs in the future.