Artisan Roast - Irmas Pereira Double Pass - Brazil

Irmãs Pereira is a high quality focused coffee farm lying in the heart of one of Brazil's most recognisedand awarded growing areas, the Mantiqueira hills. Now in the second generation of ownership since it's planting in the 1970s the has been a beacon for quality and sustainability for many years. Before being renamed Irmãs Pereira (The Pereira Sisters) to represent the sisters' joint management, the farm won several awards in the Cup of Excellence programme under it's original name Fazenda do Serrado. The commitment to quality that led to these awards continues and the quality produced on the farm represents the very best that Brazil produces.

The farm is on the outskirts of the town of Carmo de Minas, and as with many farms around the town of Carmo, the rolling Mantiqueira hills are too steep for mechanised picking, so common through much of Brazil. This means the coffee has to be hand picked, allowing for closer control over quality from the outset of processing. Thereafter, a number of different processes are used by the Pereira sisters, and this year we've selected two for Artisan Roast.

For 'Double Pass' processed lots Irmãs Pereira's coffee takes a selection from the natural processed harvesting. After the ripe fruit is sorted into ripe, unripe, and over-ripe, the over-ripe is then placed under water for 12 hours. This re-hydrates the cherries in safe conditions that prevent defects, giving a uniform moisture content for further processing. This now softer fruit is pulped and processed like the pulped natural method where the flesh, along with a small amount of the mucilage is removed prior to drying. This use of processing techniques developed in the 1990s fuses consistency and clarity with the wild and boozy aromatics of the overripe, almost raisin like fruit.