Brazil Bahia Viviana Aparecida

Viviana Aparecida's coffee farm "Saco de Onca" is located outside the city of Licínio de Almeida, in Brazil's Eastern state of Bahia. Her story is not all that uncommon. Viviana comes from a family of coffee farmers, and after reaching adulthood and acquiring a small piece of land from her grandfather, she decided to take the plunge herself. What's unique about Viviana's farm, and the Bahia region in general, is that there is a culture of small scale farming. I know we've called 50 hectare Brazilian estates "small" in some of our reviews, because in Brazil, that is considered small. But Viviana's 7 hectare farm is small on a global scale. Saco de Onca is situated on a sloping hillside, with shade trees interspersed. She is growing Catuaí, a cross between Mundo Novo and Caturra that is known for its high production yield, and short stature making it easy to pick. The latter is particularly helpful on a farm that employs selective hand harvesting. We have not visited Viviana, and I'm hoping to learn more about her processing methods next season. Her coffee is fruit forward in a way that is pretty unusual for Brazilian coffee. When cupping the offer sample, we noted it's wilder cup character, which we enjoyed, but we were unsure which way the fruit would go. I'm happy to report the cup is tasting sweet as ever, and the fruits provided an interesting flavor backdrop in both our City and Full City roasts.