Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza

Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza is owned and run by Marcos Croce and his wife Silvia. Since they took over the farm after Silvia inhereted it from her family, they have been transforming the farm towards organic production and their coffee is now certified organic. Marcos and Silvia are very concerned about their local environment and has partnered up with a lot of farmers in the area helping them convert towards sustainable farming and improving quality. Among the farmers they work with is Mr. Joao Hamilton and his farm Sitio Canaa, which we have bought great coffees from in the past and also this year.

Marcos and Silvia’s son and our good friend Felipe is now running the quality control and development of quality on the farm. He is actively experimenting with new ways of drying and producing coffee. This has resulted in some of the cleanest natural processed coffees we have ever tried coming out of Brazil. Although their altitude is not the highest, The coffees still have great character and sweetness due to the delicate drying process where the coffee cherries are picked at a very uniform ripening stage and all unripe coffees are sorted out by hand during drying.

Their coffees are not the cheapest in Brazil. This is because the yield when growing organic coffee is very low, the cost is high and the Brazilian economy, especially in Sao Paulo state is booming. However, after visiting their farm and tasting their coffees 3 years in a row we had no other choice then to buy some.

Producer: Marcos & Felipe Croce
Lot size: 1200 Kg
Harvest: July 2011
Origin: Mococa, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Growing conditions: Around 1000 m.s.l. Under semi shade. Active organic. Farm size: 800 hectars.

Botanical variety: Red Catuai, Red Icatu, Mundo Novo
Process: Natural. Dried on raised beds. All unripes are removed by hand during drying.

Flavour description:

Flavours of berries, nuts and milk chocolate. Hints of flowers on the nose. Berry-like acidity with low intensity. Creamy mouthfeel.
Lingering sweet finish.