Brazil Yuki Minami
Extra Bold Profile | Dark roast
Tasting Notes: Dark Chocolate, Nougat, Toasted Walnuts
IT ALL STARTS AT THE COFFEE FARM
This coffee comes from the Cerrado Mineiro micro-region of southern Brazil, and was grown by Yuki Minami. Yuki grew up surrounded by Brazilian coffee and now runs her family’s farms, focusing on innovative techniques to increase quality.
Long a specialty supplier in the region, Yuki's family farm Fazenda Santo Antonio has since invested in the field, in raised beds and in training as part of Yuki’s successful experiment of increasing quality to get better prices. Around the time Yuki returned take up coffee they purchased a second farm, Olhos D’Aqua, which is right down the road. In 2016 Yuki banded together with other farmers in her community – a group of third generation Brazilians of Japanese descent – to form Aequitas Coffee. In Yuki's words, “Aequitas is the Roman goddess of equity. But she was also a goddess that meant justice, transparency and fairness. And this is what I wanted to do - I wanted to promote a fair trade for producers.”
Ahead of this 2023 harvest, Yuki received post-harvest consulting from PhD Giselle Abreu, and as a result changed some techniques like the thickness of the coffee layer during drying, experimented with different processing like not washing cherry, fermenting in 4000 liters trunks, fermenting in lines of thick layers that looked like a pyramid and fermentation with yeasts that were multiplied at the farm.
Follow Yuki and Aequitas on Instagram: @aequitascoffee
TRACEABILITY
PRODUCER
Yuki Minami
MILL / WASHING STATION
On farm
PROCESSING
Natural
ALTITUDE
1145 meters
DID YOU KNOW
The Cerrado Mineiro region of Minas Gerais is an area best described as a high-altitude savannah, and best known as the carrot capital of Brazil. In addition to producing nearly half of the country’s carrots, this region also grows onions, garlic, onion, potatoes….and coffee.
PRICE TRANSPARENCY
$3.94
Price paid by Driftaway
$2.55
Free on Board price
$3.00
Farm Gate price
$2.21, $2.00
Fair Trade price per pound
$2.01, $1.80
Coffee C-Market price per pound
$0.05
Driftaway's World Coffee Research contribution per pound
This coffee travelled 4,504 miles to the Driftaway Coffee roastery in Queens.
Love the coffee? You can share your compliments & tasting observations with the farmers.
WHY DID WE SELECT THIS COFFEE?
Women grow exceptional coffee, but are often overlooked. They make up 70% of the workforce in coffee growing and processing, but make 40% less revenue. They have systemically lower access to resources like land, credit and information.
Starting this year, as we search the world for delicious coffees, our goal is to purchase 50% of our coffees from women farmers. Every coffee you see that comes from women farmers means that the coffee payment went to the women who did the work.
This is one of Yuki Minami's larger lots from the 2023 harvest. We'd previously roasted it in the Classic profile, but for this month we dove into extending the roast and deepening the rich sweetness and body - we still taste the candied nougat, and dark chocolate, plus more toasted nuts.
AVERAGE CUPPING SCORE
84.5
/100
84.5
SCAA Cupping Score
20 x 60 k
Bags purchased
1 year
Length of producer relationship
100% (in 2023)
Transparent coffees purchased
HOW DID WE ROAST THIS COFFEE?
This coffee is being roasted by Ian T. from May 20th to June 14th in Brooklyn. We use the Loring Kestrel roaster for this profile. We have strict guidelines for each of the coffee profiles, and this roast has to pass the development time ratio test as measured in real-time by the roasting software, Cropster. Once it does, it is approved for production.
QUALITY CONTROL
We perform Quality Control via a process of coffee tasting called cupping on all of our production roasts once a week at our roastery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Each cupping is conducted by James M. and Ian T. using standard equipment, and is logged by our Q-certified cupper Ian T. All coffees are evaluated on a scoring scale of 0 to 3.
- 3.0 = exceptional roast - exceeds expectations
- 2.5 = on par with profile - matches expectations
- 2.0 = good roast, but 1 or 2 elements could be improved - needs improvement
- 1.5 or lower = failed - do not ship
PRODUCTION AND SHIPPING
Less than 24 hours after roasting, we bag your coffee in our production facility in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Our production team is led by Anthony and Torie, and supported by a rotating cast of local artists, musicians and independent professionals.
AT YOUR HOME
Brew this coffee with your favorite home brewer and enjoy the taste of incredible coffee! Here are a few tips on how to make the best coffee on each brewer.
View other posts about how to make better coffee at home on our blog Coffeecademy.
