The Fazenda Reis Lot Is Gone: A Brazilian Anaerobic Worth Remembering

The Fazenda Reis lot is gone, and there is no second shipment of it. We bought a very small amount of a 48-hour anaerobic natural from a farm in Tres Pontas, Sul de Minas, and it sold through. This is what it was, who grew it, and what made the processing unusual enough to be worth writing down after the fact.

If you are here looking for something to drink instead, skip to the end. If you want to know what you missed, start here.

Who are the Reis family?

Aneite Reis inherited five hectares in 1933. The farm has stayed in the family for three generations since.

It is run today by his son, Jose Carlos Reis, and his grandson Flavio Reis. Flavio is the one who handles processing, and he has won Brazil's Taste of Harvest competition three years running, plus a two-star Great Taste Award in 2023.

The farm also raises milk cattle and grows soybeans and wheat. That is not a diversification story for a brochure. Coffee pays once a year and the price swings hard, so the other crops keep people employed through the months when coffee does not. There is worker housing for families on site, a nursery, and a medical center with a doctor who visits weekly.

What is a static-box anaerobic ferment?

Most anaerobic coffee ferments in sealed tanks. Flavio uses sealed boxes instead, flooded with temperature-controlled air, with the whole cherries stacked inside.

Controlling the temperature slows the ferment down. A slower ferment is a more predictable one, which means he can steer the flavor instead of hoping the tank lands somewhere good. Open-tank anaerobic gives you much less of that control, and the technique is rarely seen elsewhere in Brazil.

These cherries sat for 48 hours before drying.

What did it taste like?

The thing people found surprising was how dry it finished. Anaerobic naturals have a reputation for tasting like jam, and plenty of them earn it. This one did not. Raspberry arrived first, dark chocolate sat underneath, and it closed more like wine than fruit.

That restraint was the point, and it is also why it divided people. If you came to fermented coffee for the sweetness, this was not the one.

Why did such a small amount exist?

Because this is what a genuinely limited lot looks like, as opposed to a marketing one.

A single farm ran a single experimental process across part of one harvest. The technique is uncommon, the volume was small before anyone exported it, and we bought a fraction of that. There was never a warehouse holding more of it.

When a coffee like this runs out, it does not come back in six weeks with the same label. Next year's harvest from the same farm will be a different coffee, because the weather was different and the ferment was dialed differently.

What to drink instead

Three honest options, depending on what appealed to you.

If it was the anaerobic process, our Brazil Anaerobic is also a 48-hour ferment and still available. Lighter body, raspberry and white wine, mild acidity.

If it was the fruit, the Laos Xam Tai goes much further in that direction. Strawberry jam, wafer and rhubarb, and sweeter than the Brazil ever was.

If it was the dark chocolate and the dry finish, Burundi is the closest thing we carry. Natural processed, blackberry and dried cherry over dark chocolate, full and syrupy.

For the full comparison across every origin we stock, see which single origin to buy, or read how the Laos and Brazil ferments compared side by side while both were still in stock.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This article is general information, not medical advice.