Brazil Espirito Santo | Marcos Tomazini Pulped Natural
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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.
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This coffee hails from the Mountains of EspÃrito 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.
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In the cup we have been finding an intense sugarcane-like sweetness, alongside notes of raisin and juicy, white nectarine. Â