Brazil Fazenda Sertaozinho Yellow Bourbon

The January days seem to keep going by–I can’t believe that tomorrow is the 20th day of 2018. I feel like I’m still getting used to this new year, remembering to circle my pen for the date, instead of straight lines. I think that the days are rather blurring together as the employees around here seem to be taking turns staying home sick. Even Archie got the flu this time, and I missed him running around the office, calling me “Ah-Lee” loudly.

How do you entertain an 18 month old in the office? With a box!

Hopefully everyone is feeling better now. I know that in our family, the flu went around in December, but it took awhile for everyone to get over it. All sympathy to those of you still dealing with it. I think that a third of my daughter’s class was absent this week, so it’s certainly going around.

For those of you not drinking Throat Coat tea and pounding echinacea and vitamin C–those of you still functioning without the dreaded flu, that is–we have a delicious coffee for you this week. This is our Brazil Fazenda Sertaozinho Yellow Bourbon. Fazenda means farm in Portugese, and this is a unique farm in Minas Gerais that has 300 hectacres of protected old growth forest. Some of the trees are as much as 1500 years old. This coffee was a Cup of Excellence winner in 2012, and a finalist multiple times since. You can read about that here.

This is a pulped natural bean, similar to a honey process. Pulped natural means that the beans are dried with some of the pulp still attached, which tends to give it a fruitier flavor in the cup. This coffee is a yellow bourbon, which is a cultivar of arabica that “developed naturally on Île Bourbon (an island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, now known as Réunion) from coffee brought to the island from Yemen by the French (from the SCA page, here).” Bourbon can be yellow or red, meaning that the coffee cherries ripen to that color. Since most varieties of coffee ripen to red, this is more unique.

In the cup this has stone fruit flavors of apricot and pluot, with a lingering creamy finish. It is enjoyable to drink and you definitely taste the pulped natural process. You can sample a cup on us this week with the code dolphin*. I’m sure it’s no surprise that code was chosen by my daughter: dolphins are her favorite mammal. Enjoy your weekend, and drink good coffee. Cheers!
–Holly Fike

*Code good for one free 12 ounce cup of Brazil Fazenda Sertaozinho Yellow Bourbon. Code expires on 01.25.18. Limit one free cup per customer please. Valid only at Carolines Coffee Roasters, 128 S. Auburn Street, Grass Valley, CA. Code/Offer has no cash value.