This coffee was grown by a man named Antonio Lima Reis, a third-generation coffee farmer who has stayed true to his family’s values of high-quality production and strong personal relationships between people and planet. His family has been growing coffee here since 1923. Antonio’s estate: Bela Vista, is just under 1100 acres. Here, he grows several varietals of coffee tree, among them are Yellow Catuai, Mundo Novo, Topazio (one we haven’t brought you before), and Yellow Bourbon. This exceptional estate sits in Nepomuceno, Brazil in the Sul De Minas (southern Minas Gerais) coffee growing region. This region is perfect for coffee growing because the climate is naturally mild.

Antonio dries the processed beans he harvests with a method that is also a first for us, the static dried method. In this method, the coffee cherries dry slowly in boxes where hot and cold air are alternated every 12 hours. The cherries dehydrate slowly and remain in contact with the other cherries the entire time. This allows for fruity and sometimes winey notes to come forward.

This coffee was grown at an elevation of 4429 feet above sea level and is very, very good. It may remind some of you of Brazil Gold Crest, an Origin of the Month we brought to you in late 2022. Super smooth and slightly sweet with a clean finish. It earned a cup score of 85 shortly after harvesting last year. The harvest season in Brazil is May-September. Those of us with more discerning palates may detect notes of roasted almond, dried fruit (one of the notes in Ethiopia Queen City), and golden raisin.