The small, coastal state of Espríto Santo is located in the southeast of the Brazil, and contains microclimates unlike virtually anwhere else in the country: Brazil's traditional natural process is practically impossible here, as well, due to the heavy mists and fog that roll across the coffee farms in the mountains. The landscape is lush and green, home to diverse animals and plants, including delicious coffees. The majority of the coffee is here is Red Catuai, growing between 900 and 1200 meters above sea level on farms averaging about 10 hectares each.
The farmer groups here operate more like family because, well, many of them are family: About 60 coffee-growing families live and collaborate in the region, until very recently selling their yields almost entirely on the local market. We were surprised by the sparkling, clean characteristics in the cup here: Brazil is known more for the nutty and chocolaty profile contributed by the varieties historically grown here, as well as the typical processing methods. Espríto Santo's family-run farms focus more on washed and pulped-natural processing because of the cloudy, misty climate, which makes full natural more difficult, but lightens up the cup profile so that it more closely resembles a higher-grown Central American coffee.
Farms here are small, though the network of families growing coffee together is large: Generations of siblings, cousins, and parents, and grandparents grow and process their coffee on small lots and in their own parabolic dryers and on patios. We hope to develop farmer-specific lots from these growers in the coming years, and we are excited to present such an unsual Brazilian coffee to our customers!