We are thrilled to commence a partnership and directly purchase coffee from Casa Almeida Barreto, a family estate focused on the production of the high end specialty coffee and wine from Brazil.

We have heard about the great work of Casa Almeida Barreto for a while and had a chance to taste it first hand a couple of months ago. The quality and cleanness was palpable. 

After a chat with Jorge and Gabriel, we first understood this as possible as a result of their extensive background in enology, agronomy and fermentation techniques, as this farm was first bought with the intention of solely producing wine.  

Due to already existing old and well established coffee trees in the farm, Jorge and his family realised it would be a pity to waste them - that is how their coffee production journey started. 

With a scientific and artisanal approach towards production, they continuously research  terroirs and develop methods that can better express each variety and achieve great results in the cupping table. 

This year was particularly good for coffee production. Despite being quite intensive, the rains from the beginning to the mid-season provided good nutrition for the plants, ensuring good quantity and quality of production.

An extremely dry end of the season, with hot days and cool nights, allowed the perfect maturation and drying of our coffee, keeping both sugar and acidity high.

The most ripe cherries, right after picked, are first washed to remove any impurities or dirt, and directly inserted into a stainless-steel tank that is usually used for winemaking. The tank is sealed, and with a controlled temperature around 18ºC, stimulating the coffee's natural yeasts to ferment.

Through a pressure valve, there is control how much carbonic gas is being produced, and the coffees ferment at maximum carbonic pressure for 72 hours.

After the fermentation, the coffees start drying on the patios under the sun for 5 days, and finish their drying process in mechanical dryers for 24 hours at 30ºC.

For the past years they have been improving fermentation and drying methods to better maintain the aromas and taste from the cherries, while exploring different profiles. Using the stainless-steel tanks and technology from the wine facilities, they were able to better control fermentation of the coffee, bringing up very interesting flavour profiles.

If you'd like to know more about these exceptional producers, check them out here.