Last year we were blown away by the quality of Brazilian coffees Southland Merchants supplied to us. This year they have raised the bar! Enter, Marcos Tomazini, a generational coffee farmer who operates the farm his father, Antonio, purchased 50 years ago.

This coffee hails from the Mountains of Espírito Santo at 900-1000 metres above sea level in the Bateia district. It is a yellow and red catuai that has undergone a pulped natural (honey) process. Each year Tomazini produces approximately 500 x 60kg bags of coffee from his farm, alongside a spread of other crops like yam, avocado, banana and mandarin. Tomazini begins harvesting when 70% (minimum) of the coffee cherries on a given tree have matured. They are then floated and sorted before being depulped. Although the skin of the coffee cherries is completely removed, only a portion of the mucilage that surrounds the bean is taken. The cherries are then dried under shelter in semi-open greenhouses, where they are monitored and rotated every hour. By leaving the sticky, honey-like mucilage still on the bean whilst it is drying, and ensuring a careful monitoring of moisture, we can enhance and develop the intrinsic flavours of the coffee alongside increasing its sweetness and body.

In the cup we have been finding an intense sugarcane-like sweetness, alongside notes of raisin and juicy, white nectarine.