Brazil — Fazenda Chapadão Paraiso (Natural)

Tastes Like — 🍒 Red Plum • 🍋 Sweet Citrus • 🍷 Winey Aromatics

DETAILS

• Producer: Fazenda Chapadão (Gustavo & Rodrigo)
• Farm: Fazenda Chapadão
• Region: Cerrado Mineiro, Brazil
• Varietal: Paraiso
• Process: Natural
• Altitude: 1,200 MASL
• Size: 250g

INTRO

Fazenda Chapadão’s Paraiso is a very sweet and juicy natural coffee from Cerrado Mineiro — a region celebrated for its dry climate and consistency. This lot placed 3rd in the Cup of Excellence Natural Category, a testament to the exceptional quality Gustavo and Rodrigo have built since dedicating themselves entirely to coffee in 2014.

Tasting of red plum, sweet citrus, and winey aromatics, this is a coffee that showcases the depth and richness that Paraiso naturals from Brazil can deliver at their very best.

THE PRODUCER

The story of Fazenda Chapadão begins with Ciro, who originally farmed cows for milk production in Minas Gerais. His sons, Gustavo and Rodrigo, helped where they could but pursued studies in the city. In 2014, when Gustavo returned to the farm, the family made a decisive pivot: they sold the herd and committed entirely to specialty coffee.

Rodrigo joined full-time in 2018, and together the brothers have built a farm that embraces innovation in both agronomy and post-harvest processing. They cultivate Catuguá, Yellow Bourbon, Paraiso, and Yellow Catuaí, and have invested in new varieties and methods with each passing harvest. A sustainable practice adopted is the cultivation of Brachiaria grass between the coffee plants — enriching the soil, reducing erosion, controlling nematodes, and protecting young plants from the wind.

Fazenda Chapadão has received multiple quality awards and has opened an on-farm roasting shop, deepening the family’s understanding of how their coffee expresses itself from cherry to cup. Their core purpose: to make exceptional specialty coffee more accessible.

THE PROCESS

The Natural process at Fazenda Chapadão involves:

• 🍒 Selective harvest — ripe cherries are hand-picked at peak sugar development
• ✅ Sorting — cherries are sorted to remove defects and ensure uniformity
• ☀️ Raised-bed drying — whole cherries are dried on raised beds, allowing the fruit pulp to impart sweetness and body over several weeks
• 📅 Resting in husk — coffee is stored in its husk to prolong and improve quality before milling

The extended drying in whole fruit creates the characteristic richness, winey depth, and stone-fruit sweetness that define Fazenda Chapadão’s naturals.

THE CUP

A very sweet and richly textured cup, with the Paraiso variety’s natural proclivity for fruit intensity coming through in every sip. Cup of Excellence calibre quality, with a profile that rewards both pour-over and filter brewing.

Flavour Notes

• 🍒 Red Plum
• 🍋 Sweet Citrus
• 🍷 Winey Aromatics