Nucoffee Artisans: Special, renowned coffee

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Nucoffee Artisans: café especiais e reconhecidos

A list of the best batches, produced through the innovative technique of controlled fermentation, was announced at the SIC, which had the Artisans producers among the best ranked in the Coffee of The Year 2020. 

A coffee with more flavor, quality, and acknowledged as one of the best ones! That is the coffee produced by Nucoffee Artisans, a controlled fermentation coffee project developed in partnership with the UFLA (Universidade Federal de Lavras) that has had positive results over the years, achieving a higher score on the Special Beans rating.

In its most recent achievement, Nucoffee acknowledged the Artisans “Top 50” during the SIC (Brazilian International Coffee Week) opening, considered one of the most important events on coffee production. 

The event acknowledged the best coffee produced by the Nucoffee Artisans producers through the innovative technique of controlled fermentation. The highlight was the coffee that won first place, having a rating above 86.8 points.  

According to the Sensory Evaluation Method of the Specialty Coffee Association, a Special Coffee scores at least 80 points on a scale of 100.

Producers Lauro Giovani de Carvalho Siqueira and Maria Helena, from Cambuquira (MG), earned first place. Three batches of the coffee they produced scored 90 points, with characteristics that amazed the judges, who rated the beans as “presidential” due to their complexity. 

“The aroma we had with the controlled fermentation is quite good. Our coffee got a fruity, ripe peach smell. The result was great, above our expectations,” said Maria Helena.

"This project is the future of coffee. Of course, we will increase the use of that technique in the next crop," stated Lauro. 

Watch in the video how the producers earned this acknowledgment. 

For specialist Silvio Leite, the flavors obtained through the Nucoffee Artisans are a revolution in the coffee chain and prove that science has a lot to contribute to this area. "The most interesting thing is the huge complexity of the coffees produced; while some had a fruity taste, others reminded rapadura (a sugar cane sweet), among other flavors. We are in a new era of coffee production,” he commented.

Artisans is the Coffee of the Year Champion

Besides the “Top 50”, SIC had the announcement of the winners of Coffee of the Year 2020, one of the most famous contests that bring together the best coffee in Brazil and elects the highlights of the year. Nucoffee Artisans won first place and earned third and fourth places in the fermented coffee category.

Created in 2012, the Coffee of the Year fosters the development and improvement of the production in Brazil, besides disclosing new origins of coffee. The event took place during the SIC (Brazilian International Coffee Week); the highlight of the 2020 edition was the fermented coffee category, which had samples of beans from Nucoffee Artisans producers. 

The producer Maria Gabriela Baracat Sanchez, from Coromandel (MG), won first place in the Arabic Induced Fermentation — Honorable Mention category. Moreover, the producer Denilson Antonio Costa, of Fazenda Bela Vista, from Ilicínea (MG), and producer Gabriely Eduarda Silva, from Varjão de Minas (MG), won the 4th and 5th place, respectively.

The ranking had two stages. The first is the receipt of samples of producers from Brazil, where the beans are toasted and tasted by Q-Graders and R-Graders accredited by the CQI (Coffee Quality Institute). In the second stage, where the best samples participate in the Brazil International Coffee Week, national and international buyers taste them.  

Nucoffee Artisans: understanding the project

Called Nucoffee Artisans, the program brings the controlled fermentation to the farms of partner producers not only to improve the quality of coffee but also to raise its flavor and aroma.

The research is over 24 years, and one of the main goals is to define the decisive factors during the fermentation that contribute to a differentiated coffee. 

Likewise, standardizing the process and keeping consistent the quality of the coffee of the next crop, through training and monitoring, is one of the Nucoffee Artisans goals as well.

Controlled fermentation is a process that occurs with the cherries harvested or pulped, under controlled conditions, through the activity of microorganisms added as starter cultures.

For Rosane Freitas Schwan, Fermentation Microbiology specialist and Agricultural Microbiology professor at UFLA, the process proposed by Nucoffee Artisans has everything to bring differential for the Brazilian coffee. "That is a methodology that has been taught step by step, for better standardization. With that, we hope to increase the range of flavor descriptors and attract a larger public, both national and international."

The Nucoffee Artisans is an innovative process that transforms the coffee, offering high consistent results, scalability, and, especially, new markets with maximum quality control in our production. For more information, watch the video.