Alessandro - Filter Coffee from Brazil

Alessandro's coffees impress us anew every year. The co-founder of the APAS cooperative knows exactly what he's doing. This year, the harvest comes from his newest farm, Sitio Grotão. As in previous years, it's a Natural with a hazelnut baseline, perfumed with ripe, berry notes and rounded off with a delicate acidity.

Alessandro - Coffee Information

Roasted for: all common filter methods such as: pour-over, AeroPress, French Press, and Cold Brew.

Origin: Brazil, São Gonçalo do Sapucaí, Sitio Grotão

Producer: Alessandro Hervaz, member of the APAS cooperative

Varieties: Bourbon Amarelho, 100% Arabica

Post-harvest process: Natural, drying in the coffee cherry

All our coffees are sold as whole beans.

Brewing Recommendation for Alessandro by David: Hario V60

David used the following equipment for recipe development:

Water: Total hardness 3 °dH , alkalinity 1.5 °dH (more on the topic of coffee water)
Grinder: Kinu M47 Classic
Dripper: Hario V60 Glass filter 02
Filter paper: Hario V60 Paper

Tell me more about Alessandro's work

Sitio Grotão is Alessandro's newest farm and one of the highest in Brazil. Up to 1520m above sea level, the coffee grows in a very cool climate, developing more acidity due to its slow ripening. We perceive this as a delicate, fresh acidity that integrates well into the overall impression. The Natural process creates mild, slightly fruity (red berries, plums) notes, while the classic hazelnut undertone runs through from hot to cold. Alessandro says he is "a student of coffee" – he focuses on precise processing steps, and we feel that in this coffee. Everything is where it should be. The balance between nuttiness, fruit notes, and acidity is a highlight in our portfolio every year.

Why does the coffee taste the way it does?

Alessandro applies the same post-harvest process to all his farms. This allows for an interesting comparison between the individual microlots. After harvesting, Alessandro washes all intact cherries, whereby unripe and overripe ones float to the top. He can remove these and pile only the homogeneously ripe cherries in a pyramid shape in a covered solar tent to ferment. In this pile of cherries, the temperature rises and intensifies the fermentation. After 5 to 7 days, he spreads the cherries in hand-wide layers and dries them. The fermentation brings fruity notes to the coffee, the slow ripening due to the altitude brings delicate acidity, and the variety brings the familiar nuttiness.

How do we roast these coffees?

We roast the coffee as a 12.5kg batch in a 30kg Giesen roaster. With a roasting time of 10 minutes, this coffee is one of our longer filter roasts. The development time of 40 seconds is relatively short - after the first crack, we quickly raise the bean temperature further and stop the roast in the middle of the first crack at a slightly higher end temperature.

3 Cold Brew Recipes - Cold Coffee, really delicious

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