La Liberdade
Unique and complex with tropical fruit notes, muscat, honey, white peach, orange and bergamot.
La Liberdade is a special micro-lot of coffee selected from Fazenda Progresso, a beautiful farm nestled in the Chapada Diamantina mountain range in the heart of Bahia. The farm is surrounded by the Chapada Diamantina National Park, known for its mountainous cliff formations (Chapada) and 19th century diamond mining (Diamantina).
We spent a week in Brazil earlier this year, and were lucky enough to spend some time with Fabiano Borré (the youngest generation of the family who owns Fazenda Progresso) and Ednaldo Nascimento who heads the quality control lab, which is located on the farm. Together we cupped through many coffees that came from different pivots (plots) on the farm that had been carefully screened and put aside by Ernaldo for us to taste as they cupped 85 points or above. The lot sizes of the coffees we tasted varied from small micro-lots (like this one) to larger lines. Overall we were very impressed with the quality across the board; the coffees were all incredibly clean and sweet, with refined acidity and balanced cup profile. We were also impressed with the diversity of cup profiles that this farm is now producing – and its quality potential; some lots, like this one, scored 88+ on the table!
This coffee, was by far and away Toshi’s favourite on the table. We called it Liberdade (Freedom). It comes from two different plots of land within the farm named Manuela and Floresta. Both plots are irrigated by pivot and have around 2,500 trees (on one hectare of land); Manuela was pruned last year and Floresta was pruned 3 years ago.
ABOUT FAZENDA PROGRESSO
The history of Fazenda Progresso dates back to 1984, when the Borré family migrated from southern Brazil to the Northeast and purchased some land in the municipality of Ibicoara, near the town of Mucugê. In the early years, the family tried growing crops such as soybeans, wheat, and English potatoes. The potatoes turned out to be an incredibly successful crop, stimulating investments and making the family one of the largest producers of potatoes in Brazil!
In 2005, the Borré family sought to diversify the activities on their land, and so began to focus on coffee. As we very quickly learnt when we first met the family, when they commit to a new project, they seek to do it to the very highest possible standard, and invest in getting the very best people around them and state of the art equipment and infrastructure to ensure they succeed. Their work with coffee is no exception. The family’s commitment to producing exceptional coffee has been unwavering over the last decade. They have sought advice from some of the most respected professionals in the field, including Silvio Leite, founder of the Cup of Excellence and president of the Brazil Specialty Association, with 30 years’ experience in coffee grading, tasting, and quality control.
The Borré family has also invested heavily in ensuring they have the very best infrastructure to process their coffee and are continuously trialling new things and experimenting with they way they harvest and process the coffee in an effort to improve the cup quality. Every lot that is produced on the farm is evaluated by Ednaldo and his team in order to ensure that the quality is the very best it can be.
On our most recent visit to the farm, the family had invested in a new drying shed, and were experimenting with temperature controlled shade drying on raised beds. They had also started to process some coffee using the natural processing method, which was also producing some exciting cup profiles.
In total, 700 hectares of the property are dedicated to coffee; this land is divided up into different plots, which are processed and cupped separately. Over time, the family has worked out the optimum way to plant coffee trees in order to maximise productivity and quality, with 50 centimetres between each tree and three metres between each row of trees.
The Borrés are very hands-on in their approach to managing the farm. They are extremely professional in the way they conduct their business, and they take great care to create an excellent work environment for their staff. Throughout the year, there are around 200 permanent staff members on the farm, and this number grows to 650 during the harvest. Many of these harvest workers return every year, and all are provided with daily bus transportation and food.
HOW THIS COFFEE WAS PROCESSED
This particular lot from Progresso was carefully hand-picked and then processed via the pulped natural method: the cherry’s skin and fruit were removed and the sticky, parchment-covered beans were left to dry on cement patios and carefully raked at least 20 times over a 24-hour period. This ensured that the coffee dried evenly and consistently. After this, the coffee was dried at temperatures no higher than 40 degrees for 18 hours and then rested for 6 hours and this process was repeated until reaching the final moisture level of 12%, ready for export.
THE BORRE FAMILY
The Borré family business has always been managed and directed by family members and is now in its third generation of operation. Fabiano Borré looks after everything to do with the coffee side of the business. He is young, focused and very motivated to produce the very best coffee he can. You can read an interview with Fabiano Borré here.
The Borré family takes great care to protect and preserve the ecological health of their area. Water is conserved and meteorological stations are positioned throughout the farm to optimise irrigation and ensure the trees get the right amount of water. Cascara pulp from processing is composted (along with potato wastage, which is very high in potassium and great for coffee trees!) and used to fertilise trees throughout the plantation.
In 2015, for the first time, the Borré family entered their coffee into the Cup of Excellence competition. It placed 15th—a fantastic achievement and testament to the hard work, resources, and focus that they have been put into producing exceptional coffee.
