Brazilië | Pink star

Brazilië Pink Star is a Brazilian single-origin coffee from Sampietro Specialty Coffee. This article highlights its key characteristics, from origin and flavour to roast profile and sustainability.

This coffee comes from Fazenda Pedra Preta in the Mantiqueira de Minas region of Brazil. The owner, Eduardo Ferreira de Sousa, is pioneering regenerative agriculture and intercropping to create a multi-layered ecosystem on the estate. The plantation sits at about 1,100 metres above sea level amidst hills and forests in South Minas Gerais. The surrounding nature is rich in fauna; toucans, howler monkeys, ocelots and even maned wolves live on and around the farm. Mantiqueira de Minas has a centuries-old coffee tradition and, with its high-altitude terroir (900–1500 m), offers an ideal climate for quality coffee.

Brazil Pink Star is omni-roast roasted, which means that the roast profile is calibrated so the coffee works for both filter and espresso. The roast darkness sits in the middle: dark enough for a full espresso extraction yet light enough to preserve the sweet flavours. This balanced roast profile makes the coffee highly versatile, without exaggerated bitterness or acidity in the cup.

In Pink Star’s flavour you’ll find notes of creamy milk chocolate and a soft mouthfeel. Many tasters also pick up nutty undertones such as hazelnut or almond and a hint of sweet fruitiness like stone fruit. Overall it’s a sweet, rounded coffee with mild acidity and a smooth finish. Thanks to the natural processing and freshly roasted beans, this coffee has a rich aroma and a relatively full, thick body.

Pink Star is a naturally processed coffee. This means the beans are dried in the sun with the fruit still attached before the dried skin and pulp are removed. That traditional unwashed process gives the beans time to absorb sugars from the pulp, often resulting in a sweeter, fuller coffee with less acidity compared with washed coffees. At Fazenda Pedra Preta the harvested cherries are spread on patios to dry evenly, after which the dried skin is mechanically removed. The whole process requires care to avoid mould or over-fermentation, so the cherries are turned regularly during drying.

Pink Star comes from the coffee variety Arara. Arara is a relatively new Arabica cultivar, resulting from a natural cross between the Obatã and Yellow Catuaí varieties. The plants are highly productive and exceptionally resistant to diseases such as coffee leaf rust. Arara trees bear yellow cherries that yield notably large beans—Pink Star beans are therefore sorted at screen size 19, the largest category. Arara is also known for its excellent cup quality with sweet flavour nuances; in Brazil coffees of this variety consistently score high in tastings.

The regenerative approach at Pedra Preta improves soil health and biodiversity, contributing to more sustainable coffee cultivation. By intercropping – planting various shade trees and companion crops among the coffee plants – the ecosystem becomes more diverse and more resilient to climate fluctuations. The choice of the disease-resistant Arara variety also helps reduce pesticide use. Social sustainability is a focus as well: the Mantiqueira coffee region is home to thousands of small-scale farmers, and cooperatives such as Cooxupé invest in education, healthcare and better living conditions for the community. They also take environmental measures, from environmental education for new generations to purifying wastewater during coffee processing, to limit ecological impact.

Thanks to its omni-roast profile, Brazilië Pink Star can be brewed in many ways. Use a fine grind for espresso and a coarser grind for filter coffee. In espresso machines this bean produces a full-bodied shot with creamy crema and chocolate-like sweetness – delicious on its own or in milk drinks. For espresso you could for example brew 18 grams of coffee to yield about 36 grams (a 1:2 ratio) for a balanced flavour. For filter methods (V60, cafetière, etc.) a ratio of around 1:15 is recommended (e.g. 15 g coffee to 225 ml water) for a gentle cup. Feel free to experiment with brew methods: this coffee stays mild and pleasant, without harsh edges, whether prepared as a powerful espresso or slow coffee.

Although Brazilië Pink Star is intended as an accessible coffee selection, the Arara variety is known for impressive cupping scores. In 2019 a naturally processed Arara coffee from Minas Gerais took first place in a Brazilian competition with no less than 92.5 points. Several years earlier the same fazenda had already scored 94.25 points with Arara coffees in both washed and unwashed categories. Pink Star itself usually scores around 80–82 points on the SCA quality scale, comfortably qualifying as specialty coffee (≥ 80 points) with a focus on consistent everyday quality. The high competition scores elsewhere, however, illustrate that this bean profile also has the potential to excel in complexity and flavour when treated at its best.

*Image: The packaging design of Sampietro’s Brazilië Pink Star.* The coffee beans are delivered in a matte-black, resealable bag with a one-way valve that lets CO₂ escape but allows no oxygen to enter. On the front a striking pink label bears the coffee’s name – a playful reference to the ‘Pink Star’ designation. The minimalist design and the bag’s three-layer foil keep the coffee’s freshness and aromas optimally. Thanks to the handy zip closure the package can be sealed airtight again after use, so the beans stay fresh as long as possible.

Brazilië Pink Star is available directly through the Sampietro Specialty Coffee webshop. Consumers can choose a 250-gram bag (€ 10.50) or an economical 1 kg bulk pack (€ 28.95). The kilo option is attractively priced for heavy users (about € 7.25 per 250 g compared with € 10.50 normally). At roughly € 42 per kilo in the small pack this coffee falls into the mid-price segment of specialty coffee – an affordable luxury for every day. Besides online sales, Pink Star is probably also available at Sampietro’s own roastery or at selected cafés that serve their coffee, making it widely accessible to coffee lovers.