STiR coffee and tea magazine

38 STiR coffee and tea | 2023 Issue 1 (February / March) Top Five Winners: No. 1: The top-scoring coffee in the 23rd Brazil Cup of Excellence, with 91.41 points, was entered into competition by past COE winner Antônio de Oliveira Filho of Fazenda Tijuco in Bahia State. This is the Rigno de Oliveira family's fourth time winning the competition. The Fazenda's founder, Antonio Rigno de Oliveira, won top hon- ors in 2015, with his son-in-law Candido Vladimir Ladeia Rosa preceding him with victories in 2014 and 2009. The farm has been in the family for five generations. No. 2: In second place was Maridalton San- tana of the Sitio Bonilha farm in the town of Piatã in Chapada Diamantina, with another 90+ score (90.59) for a pulped-natural-process. The sample was noted for its rare aroma of tangerine flowers. No. 3: Third place went to Afonso Vinhal of the Recanto Farm in Serra do Salitre, Minas Gerais, whose natural-process Catucaí scored 90.53. The Vinhal family is well-known to roasters and fol- lowers of coffee competitions, having won sev- enth place in the Brazil 2018 Cup of Excellence. The Vinhal family started in 1988 as producers, and now, as third-generation farmers, they grow Red Catuaí, Yellow Catuaí, Topazio, Yellow Icatu varieties, practicing mostly fully washed process- ing and double fermentation. No. 4: Homero Teixeira de Maceda Junior of Fazenda Recreio scored 90.47 with a Geisha va- riety and blends that were described as "floral, smooth, and delicate." This is the 130th crop har- vested by the family since 1890 on the farm lo- cated in the city of São Sebastião da Grama, in São Paulo State. Agricultural engineer Diogo Dias Teixeira de Macedo, the son of the owners, has worked on the property since 2000, where he is responsible for administration of the business. He has developed the plantation based on environ- mental protection, preserving native vegetation, and starting a program to reclaim dried-out local springs and eroded riverbanks. His version of equitable trade is practiced on his farm by providing comfortable housing for the 40 full-time and 60 temporary workers, as well as making permanently available a soccer field, church, health clinic, and a computer lab for the workers' children. No. 5: Pedro Bras. A coffee coming from Sitio Armadillo plantation located in Brazil's Canastra area and owned by known coffee innovator Pedro Bras. His family has grown coffee at his 1,285 me- ter-altitude farm since 1970, but it was Pedro who turned Sitio Armadillo into a lab for innovation with a unique process of controlled fermentation. After harvesting, the cherries are partially skinned and pulped, then fermented in barrels with some of the pulp, adding selected yeasts to produce un- usual flavor notes. One taster noted "a coffee with wild fruity notes, pleasantly sour mixed with a natural sweet- ness." Pedro Bras has been working in conjunc- tion with Lavras University developing this con- trolled fermentation process. His Natural Geisha earned a very high 90.41 at COE this year, and 87+ ratings at SCAA. Winner of the second prize was Maridalton Santana of Sitio Bonilha farm in the town of Piatã in Chapada Diamantina, Bahia State. "This year really surprised me. We had aroma profiles that were mind-blowing."

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