An easy drinking mix of brown sugar and milk chocolate in the cup is finished with juicy mandarin and lemon notes on the aftertaste.
This is a collective lot – coffee from a group of small family farms spread across the Matas de Minas region in eastern Minas Gerais, rather than a single named producer. It's a part of the world with serious coffee heritage. At its peak in the late 19th century, Matas de Minas accounted for the vast majority of Brazil's entire national output. These days the emphasis has shifted firmly from volume to quality, and it's become one of the country's most exciting regions for specialty coffee.
The region sits within Brazil's Atlantic Forest and is vast – spanning 64 municipalities across eastern Minas Gerais, with altitudes ranging from 900 to 1,400 metres. That variety of elevation means a real diversity of growing conditions, and with it, different farming models: large estates down low, and small family-run operations higher up where the terrain gets steep and machinery can't follow. Up here, harvesting is done by hand – and in sub-regions like Caparaó, where altitude pushes toward 1,400 metres, it's often selective picking. The humid climate brings multiple flowerings throughout the harvest, so cherries ripen at intervals. That's actually a good thing: it gives farmers the chance to pick only the most mature fruit, which is exactly how you get the best possible quality in the cup.
The pulped natural process suits the region well. The skin is removed before drying, but the sticky mucilage is left on – giving more body and sweetness than a washed lot, without the full intensity of a natural. It's a distinctly Brazilian method, and one Matas de Minas has genuinely made its own.
- Country: Brazil
- State: Minas Gerais
- Region: Matas de Minas
- Farms: Various smallholder producers
- Varieties: Yellow & Red Catuaí, Yellow & Red Catucaí, Yellow Bourbon, Caturra
- Altitude: 1,000 – 1,400 masl
- Harvest months: June – October
- Processing: Pulped Natural