Brazil - Mantiqueira Collective #1 Decaf

We've always had the intention of seasonal rotation between Ethiopian and Colombian sugarcane decaf - but we got a little out of step with the seasons, so we're shaking it up and resetting back to schedule with this super interesting and surprisingly delightful Brazilian EA - our first ever! We spotted it on the Nordic offer list when it first appeared, snagged a samp and were quite happily delighted.

We've always been big fans of coffees from the Mantiqueira de Minas region - with higher altitude and oft smaller farms than some of the other regions in Brazil, the quality levels are broadly pretty high; and it's only been a matter of time till we featured coffee from this region. Starting with a good solid high quality Brazil base, the EA decaf process tends to impart a slightly generic "taste of process" tropical acidity - but with the Brazil profile, it's very well received, and we find it's lead to a surprisingly (gently) fruity espresso when black. That fruity note gets a little washed out in milk, reverting to a really sweet peanut butter + milk choc cup - just like Reece's

Brew Guide:

Best Brewed with: Espresso, but can make a chunky filter

Medium Roaster Influence: A low and slow approach is always our way to go for Brazil espresso - and it's no less the same for our decaf. Much longer stretched development but without a high end temp (so a very carefully managed rate-of-rise) leads a sweet and sticky dense cup.

Best Rested: 2+ weeks

Filter: We recommend a ratio of 65g/L and 90°C water

Espresso: 18g in, 40g out, 28-32s for a classic style of espresso.

We're tasting: Very rich and gently fruity in the cup with black espresso - we're finding yellow plum, dried apple, dried fig and pomegranate molasses, sitting on a rich base of biscuit + chocolate + nuts + a gooeyness that reminds us of Rocky road. In Milk, the fruity note is rounded off, and we think it tastes like peanut butter cups.

Traceability

The Story

Mantiqueira Collective is a communal lot brought together annually from a small, consistent group of producers Nordic Approach works with in the Mantiqueira de Minas region, coordinated through Natália Moreira Brito. This year's contributors are Rafael Fagundes of Sítio São Joaquim in Natércia, Rosimeire Aparecida Guerra of Sítio Vargem Grande in Lambari, and Natália herself, of Sítio Toca da Jaguara in Cambuquira. The region sits on the Minas Gerais face of the Serra da Mantiqueira, recognised as a Denominação de Origem since 2020, with a landholding structure that tends toward smaller, family-run farms rather than the larger, mechanised estates found further north in Brazil. Building a blend of this kind allows the group to smooth out variation between individual farms and, more importantly, gives producers a reliable outlet for volume that would otherwise be difficult to place lot by lot, while making it easier for smaller, higher-scoring parcels from the same farms to be sold on their own merits elsewhere.

This particular lot was bought during a period of unusually high domestic pricing in Brazil, a consequence of a reduced arabica harvest and a period of currency movement that pushed farmgate prices to levels rarely seen in the face of record C price highs. The blend was bought at BRL 2550 per 60kg bag, working out to around 10.25USD/kg FOB ("Free on Board" - the incoterm for when coffee is loaded onto the ship at port), in order for Nordic tp stay within the buying plan and to support continued purchasing from Natália's group, Toca da Jaguara in particular. We really respect that Nordic have kept buying even in the face of existentially high prices that severely damped demand for Brazilian blender lots - and it was a smart move to realise that a value reposition via decaffeination would work well for these (relatively) harder to move lots booked in a high market.

One of the reasons we really enjoy E.A decaf is that is has a signature "tropical" flavour (all decafs taste, to a greater or lesser degree, of the process - we definitely have a subjective preference amongst them, being kind). When we think of caff "blender" Brazil - we think of nutty, sweet, low acid cups that can be deeply moreish if a little (intentionally) "boring". But with the E.A process, the decaf tropicality really adds a lot to the cup in a cohesive and enjoyable way.

The coffee was shipped to Coffein Compagnie in Bremen, Germany for decaffeination using naturally derived ethyl acetate - a compound naturally found in many fruits and as a by-product of fermentation, and most typically synthesised by esterising Ethanol (a byproduct of sugarcane fermentation in Colombia, and likely sugar-beet in germany) and acetic acid (vinegar). The EA process steams coffee to open cellular pores in the green coffee before extraction over 8 hours using the ethyl acetate to selectively remove caffeine, preserving over 95% of original volatile compounds whilst achieving 97-98% caffeine removal.

Our first time purchasing Brazilian decaf, we're using this lot to reset our seasonal cycle and explore new decaf origins - we're been thoroughly satisfied with how nice it is.