Borralha

Price range: $24.00 through $42.00

Complex and distinct, with passionfruit, mango, licorice and almond. Cocoa and black tea on the finish.

 

SKU: borralha Categories: , , ,

Description

Borralha

COUNTRY Brazil
STATE Minas Gerais
REGION Serra do Cabral
ALTITUDE 1,100m above sea level
VARIETY Red Catuaí
OWNER Marcelo and Roberto Flanzer
AWARDS Cup of Excellence 2017 #21, #25, 2019 #12

Honey blossom aroma and notes of ripe plum, cherry, toffee and peach jam. Intensely sweet with a syrupy body.

This coffee comes from the Serra do Cabral plateau, a stunning region in the Chapada de Minas in the central north of the Minas Gerais State in Brazil. This lush and fertile region provides a unique micro-climate and ideal conditions for growing fine coffee – a high altitude of 1,100m above sea level, a mild climate with sunny days and cool nights, a very well defined rain and dry seasons, and plentiful water and flat terrain.

The estate is owned and managed by Marcelo and Roberto Flanzer, who are brothers and have worked together since they were very young on their family business, EcoAgricola, with their father Henrique, who is now retired. Marcelo oversees all of the production and quality control and Roberto manages the operations on the farm.

Coffee at the Flanzer farm grows alongside beautiful crystal clear streams. This coffee is named Borralha (pronounced ‘bo-hah-lee-hah’) after a stream that runs through a protected part of the estate, called ‘Reserva natural da Borralha’ (Borralha Natural Reserve).

The coffee grows along crystal clean streams and is surrounded by perfectly preserved land, where native animals roam freely.

The Flanzer family have owned their estate since 1975, however, they have only started to specialise in coffee production in the last decade. This decision was driven by Marcelo and Roberto who took over the farm in early 2000 and wanted to diversify.

“Among many possibilities, we chose coffee for the great fit with the region: altitude, climate, water, terroir. It also met our goal to build the business in a environmentally sustainable way using technology, and our desire to be able to produce quality driven products” – Marcelo Flanzer

After recognising that the region had the ideal conditions to grow high-quality coffee, the family planted their first coffee nursery in 2006 and began harvesting coffee in 2009. Today just over 340 hectares of the 1,700-hectare estate are dedicated to coffee. Two-thirds is planted out with Red Catuaí 144 and one third with Yellow Catucaí variety trees. The brothers also have plans to introduce a small area of Yellow Bourbon in the near future.

Marcelo and Roberto have focused on producing the highest quality coffee possible and balanced this objective carefully with working to preserve and protect the local water sources and preserve the natural forest areas. Over 50% (860 hectares) of the estate is dedicated to a natural reserve that has crystal clear streams, native Cerrado Bioma vegetation and abundant wildlife. Ecological corridors run throughout the estate, allowing the free movement of animals and help maintain the area’s ecosystem and biodiversity. The natural reserve also plays a role in acting to inhibit the development of coffee pests, and therefore the need for pest control and chemicals.

Environmental sustainability has always been intrinsic to the Flanzer’s family’s mission, and large portions of the estate have always been dedicated to natural reserve.

“Sustainability and ethics are very important to us. Today sustainability is very fashionable, but when we began to produce here in the 1970s it was something just a few people cared about … To us sustainability means creating something that is environmentally responsible, socially fair and economically viable.” – Marcelo Flanzer

The concept of preservation is built into the Flanzer family company’s name, EcoAgricola. ‘Eco’ refers to ‘ecological’ and ‘Agrícola’ means ‘agriculture’. According to Marcelo and Roberto, the very purpose of the agricultural side of their business is to generate funding for ecological preservation.

The concept of preservation is built into the Flanzer family company’s name, Ecoagricola. ‘Eco’ refers to ‘ecological’ and while MCM does market the coffee in this way, EcoAgricola is Rainforest Alliance certified, UTZ certified and is also a member of the BSCA. These certifications help us make sure our work is done well, Marcelo explained when we asked why he had gotten certified. “They make annual audits and check everything, and even do surprise audits as well.”

When Marcelo and Roberto started to produce coffee, there were two big challenges that they faced. Firstly, coffee had never been produced in the region before, so there was little infrastructure and no ‘accepted’ practices that had been developed and adapted over time in the region. In addition, the brothers had no experience in coffee production, and so they surrounded themselves with experts who were able to guide them to make decisions that would maximize quality and yield, and advise them how to do things in the most environmentally responsible way.

One of the first decisions the brothers had to make was how to irrigate the coffee plantation. After much consideration of factors such as water availability and terrain, they chose to use pivot irrigation. This method of crop irrigation (also known as ‘waterwheel’ or ‘circle’ irrigation) involves equipment that rotates around a central pivot and waters the crops with sprinklers. The sprinklers will irrigate a circular area around the pivot point, often creating a circular pattern in crops when viewed from above. Center pivot irrigation typically uses less water compared to many surface irrigation and furrow irrigation techniques, helping to conserve water.

Water for the property is sourced from the natural springs as well as dams that are used in drier periods. The dams have been built at higher elevations which means they are able to water the farm by gravity, therefore, saving energy.

Over the last decade, the brothers have succeeded in installing five pivots, all of which use LEPA (Low Energy Precision Application) technology. LEPA ensures that the plant canopy remains dry and water is applied directly to every second furrow. This requires some special management and tillage practices but is also one of the most resource-efficient means of irrigation. They have also installed weather stations and monitoring systems that measure things like soil moisture, rainfall and evaporation rates, to help with inputs assessment. In 2016 they began using the ‘precision agriculture system’, which measures not only the average input requirements for the whole plantation but also the different needs of every individual hectare, and then with aid of GPS monitoring, they are able to ensure that each plant receives only the nutrients and water it needs.

Additional information

Weight 1 kg
Dimensions N/A
Weight

500g, 1kg

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