{"id":767,"date":"2018-06-25T04:00:59","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T14:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/2018\/06\/25\/in-sao-paulo-coffee-finds-a-home-in-the-dining-scene-at-futuro-refeitorio\/"},"modified":"2018-07-30T15:19:04","modified_gmt":"2018-07-31T01:19:04","slug":"in-sao-paulo-coffee-finds-a-home-in-the-dining-scene-at-futuro-refeitorio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/2018\/06\/25\/in-sao-paulo-coffee-finds-a-home-in-the-dining-scene-at-futuro-refeitorio\/","title":{"rendered":"In S\u00e3o Paulo, Coffee Finds A Home In The Dining Scene At Futuro Refeit\u00f3rio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"futuro<\/p>\n

\"futuro<\/span><\/p>\n

In Brazil, the largest coffee-producing country in the world, it is not always easy to find a good cup of coffee at the end of a meal. Restaurants do not always take into account the quality of the coffee they serve\u2014forgetting that the cup of coffee is the last taste that the customer will take from that experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

But fortunately, this scenario is beginning to change: more and more restaurants are looking to partner with good roasters to serve fresher, better beans. And there are also those who prefer to buy and roast their own, controlling the whole process. And there are those doing all of those things in a converted parking garage.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"futuro<\/span><\/p>\n

When it opened its doors last January, Futuro Refeit\u00f3rio<\/a> (Future Cafeteria, in a literal English translation), an all-day restaurant located in the Pinheiros neighborhood in S\u00e3o Paulo, already had an Atilla 5 Gold Plus<\/a> roaster in the middle of the room, along with all the kitchen equipment. <\/span>Usually relegated to the backstage, here the roaster is the center of the show, for the public to see\u2014and smell, and look, and be part of the preparation. When talking about coffee, this is an important move, as it brings customers closer to its entire culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Natalia Braga, head barista at Futuro, wanted from the beginning, when she was invited to join the team. Besides the two owners, the sisters Gabriela and Karina Barretto, the restaurant also has a head baker, Hanny Guimar\u00e3es, who is responsible for all batches of bread. \u201cI’ve always wanted to bring people closer to the coffee world,\u201d says Braga, who first started working in coffee at Starbucks. She went on to work for many coffee shops in S\u00e3o Paulo until she moved to Minas Gerais in order to learn more about coffee and its agricultural processes. \u201cSince we started, I always wanted to add value and shorten the path from product to consumer,\u201d says Braga.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"futuro<\/p>\n

Natalia Braga<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The invitation to join the team came from Karina Baretto, an <\/span>HR manager<\/span> who is passionate about coffee. Her family was always involved in coffee production and she wanted to bring that relationship to Futuro. \u201cI always knew that I didn\u2019t want to only buy coffee from a good roaster. I wanted our relationship with coffee to go deeper. So, like a miracle, Natalia showed up, and we decided to get into the whole process,\u201d she explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Months before Futuro opened, its team literally hit the road to visit farmers who could become their coffee suppliers. First, they visited the region of Chapada Diamantina, in the interior of Bahia State, and met producers such as Michael Alc\u00e2ntara, from Divino Esp\u00edrito Santo Estate and Renato Rodrigues, from Ch\u00e1cara Vista Alegre. \u201cWe thought that Bahia could be a good region to emphasize at Futuro, since it has great coffee and is not much known in S\u00e3o Paulo,\u201d Braga says. Following this line, from Minas Gerais, one of the largest states with coffee production in Brazil, they also serve beans harvested in lesser-known regions, such as Serra da Careta, which has been notable for the production of excellent coffee.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"futuro<\/p>\n

Photo by Gui Galembeck.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

From those regions comes the coffee full of personality that they serve in the restaurant, in varieties like Obat\u00e3, Pacamara, Piat\u00e3, among others. \u201cWe came back with 65 samples and the arduous job of analyzing all of them,\u201d she points out. They made a point to explain to the producers that the batches couldn\u2019t be mixed, which is very common in regions where there isn\u2019t a specific request to do otherwise. \u201cIn the roasting trials, it was difficult to define the roast profiles of many beans because of this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, with the restaurant already in operation, it has become easier for them to get the results they seek. \u201cIt is a relationship that is built slowly, so it needs patience and a lot of talks, exchanges. But it is something we are willing to do and it has paid off,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

At Futuro, the team of five baristas (including Braga) prepares only two coffee methods, which are served all day long, from morning till night: espresso and V60<\/a>. \u201cWe are not a coffee shop, but we do have a full coffee operation inside the restaurant, so we had to simplify to do a good job. With the crowds we get, it would be difficult to serve many other methods with quality,\u201d Karina says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"futuro<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to a brewing station (in front of which many clients prefer to drink their cups), they have a La Marzocco<\/a>\u00a0Linea to prepare espresso beverages. \u201cToday we have a balance between espresso and brewed coffee sales. Since we receive lots of people for lunch or dinner, Brazilians in general still have a close relationship with espresso to finish their meal. It is something cultural. But we serve many brewed coffees as well,\u201d Braga explains. <\/span><\/p>\n

At Futuro, brewed coffee is served in a glass\u2014\u201cit is a way to democratize the service, to allow the customer to see more of the coffee, its color, etc.,\u201d as Karina says\u2014while espressos are served in cups. The menu also includes some cocktails and drinks made with in-house roasted coffees, such as cold brew and the Gin Brew\u2014a mixture of gin, tonic, and a punch of cold brew\u2014and Bourbon Milk, made with bourbon, coffee, and almond milk. There is also an affogato in the desserts section, with the perfect amount of espresso spilled over artisanal vanilla ice cream.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"futuro<\/p>\n

\"futuro<\/span><\/p>\n

Still on the menu, detailed information and many descriptions are avoided. \u201cWe have a lot of people who come to eat and are not too worried about the sensorial characteristics of each of the beans,\u201d Braga says. \u201cAt first, we wanted to go into more details, but we understood that the most interested customers would ask for them, so we opted for basic information such as region, producer name, variety, and two descriptive words.\u201d \u201cLight and fruity\u201d are used to describe Alcantara\u2019s beans, while \u201csoft and elegant\u201d are used to refer to Rodrigues\u2019. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the house blend, Braga preferred to go for a more, let\u2019s say, conceptual description to explain the blend that she roasts at least twice a week\u2014to ensure the freshness of the beans. \u201cWe say it is a mixture of Pedro Almod\u00f3var and Talking Heads,\u201d she laughs. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it’s a good way to make people think about what I mean when they taste the coffee, right?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Futuro Refeit\u00f3rio is located at\u00a0R. C\u00f4nego Eug\u00eanio Leite, 808 – Pinheiros, S\u00e3o Paulo<\/a>. Visit their official website<\/a> and follow them on Facebook<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/div>\n

Rafael Tonon is a freelance journalist based in Brazil.\u00a0Read more Rafael Tonon on Sprudge<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photos by Fran Parente unless otherwise noted.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post In S\u00e3o Paulo, Coffee Finds A Home In The Dining Scene At Futuro Refeit\u00f3rio<\/a> appeared first on Sprudge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Source: Coffee News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Brazil, the largest coffee-producing country in the world, it is not always easy to find a good cup of coffee at the end of a meal. Restaurants do not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,41],"tags":[63,45,65,47,61,49,59,67,55,57],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/767\/revisions\/777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}