Ally Coffee and Brazil’s Cerrado Coffee Growers Federation honor the region’s recognition as the country’s only Designation of Origin.
BY KATRINA YENTCH
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Cover photo courtesy of Cerrado Coffee Growers Federation
On Friday, importer Ally Coffee will introduce new coffees from Cerrado Mineiro in Brazil to cities across the world through public cuppings and events that honor Brazilian culture. The tastings accompany the kickoff of Cerrado Mineiro Day, a new celebration that marks the arrival of coffee crops from the Cerrado Mineiro region, which is making conscious efforts toward traceability.
The creation of this day comes in conjunction with Cerrado Mineiro’s recognition as a Designation of Origin, which is a demarcated territory that produces a product with unique characteristics; it is also the only region in Brazil bearing this title, which it received in 2013. In order to achieve this title, its unique characteristics had to meet a criteria of factors like climate, altitude, soil, and terrain. Another unique feature of this title is that the Designation of Origin seal is sewn onto green coffee bags from the region, which also contain a QR code that others can use to get more concrete information about a particular coffee. The National Institute of Industrial Property is in charge of the program, and Ally Coffee is the first accredited importer of coffees under the program.
Along with Ally Coffee, the Cerrado Coffee Growers Federation—a group that controls the promotion and representation of the region—is also responsible for the creation of Cerrado Mineiro Day. As their superintendent Julio Tarabal says, “Besides being a moment of celebration, [it] is part of a strategy for integrating the coffee chain and uniting the links around the promotion of the Cerrado Mineiro region, our coffees, our Designation of Origin, and our producers. We want to invite people to experience our origin and to know about our coffees.”
“The idea is that together with producers in Brazil, our customers, and our roaster partners, we can promote the coffee they just harvested,” says Bruno Tavares, CEO of Ally Coffee. “All the coffee [at the cuppings] will be available for purchase. Roasters can also share the region with consumers, with all the traceability, quality, and history behind the coffee.”
For those who get to taste this coffee, flavor notes include a moderate to full body, with notes of caramel and walnut. It also tastes heavily of chocolate, with a delicate citric acidity.
From now moving forward, Cerrado Mineiro Day will be celebrated the first week of October every year, with celebratory cuppings varying based on the exact time of harvest. “Precise crop and harvest times vary year to year, but by October there is always fresh Cerrado Mineiro coffee ready to ship, so the celebration is one of completed harvest and export prep in Brazil and anticipation of new arrivals in consuming countries,” says Rachel Northrop, content manager at Ally Coffee.
Check out a Cerrado Mineiro Day on October 4 in your area, and RSVP for each one here.
Ally Coffee at 4 p.m.—1801 Rutherford Road, Suite 112, Greenville, S.C.
The Pulley Collective at 1 p.m.—2451 Peralta St., Oakland, Calif.
Kaffelabbet at 1 p.m.—Landsvägsgatan 15, 413 04 Göteborg, Sweden
Open Coffee at 3 p.m.—Bolshaya Monetnaya 16, St. Petersburg, Russia
Coffee Workshop at 3 p.m.—Bolshaya Novodmitrovskaya Street, 36c6, Moscow
Röststätte Berlin at 3 p.m.—Ackerstraße 173, 10115 Berlin
Kaffa Roastery at 7:00pm—Pursimiehenkatu 29, 00150 Helsinki, Finland
