We really value people here at Allpress, and this absolutely includes the people that produce and process our coffee, the people that sell us the coffee, the quality teams, logistics teams and everyone at origin.
Our general approach to sourcing the majority of our coffee is that we try to buy delicious, traceable coffees that suit our blends, and we endeavour to buy the same coffees each year – for consistencies sake and for simplicity, but also to build genuine relationships, and truly sustainable partnerships. As we grow, we buy more, and only if our demand exceeds the available supply then we will look for new coffees to supplement our existing sourcing. This approach works well; we continue to get access to coffees that we love which keeps our coffee consistent and takes the stress out of procurement, the growers know they have a buyer every year and don’t need to worry about whether the coffee will sell, and as the exporters have reliable business they are more likely to increase their support at origin as they can see the benefit of improving quality and yield over a long term period.
Coffee partnerships in Brazil
Where else to start but Brazil, the backbone of our Allpress Espresso Blend and A.R.T. Espresso. We currently have 6 core coffees from Brazil that we buy each year consistently, and we do occasionally test the waters with new ones to prepare for new growth and for risk mitigation. From the 24/25 crop, Allpress will be buying 8 different coffees from Brazil with three stand outs in particular.
Familia Ferraz
Buying since 2014, Allpress has visited this farm several times over the years. It is based just east of Espirito Santo do Pinhal, a beautiful region in Brazil near the border of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais. The name suggests the family element of the coffee farm. In fact, there are several neighbouring farms, all connected, all owned and operated by several members of the Ferraz family. They share processing equipment, drying patios etc. and there is a small cluster of modest family homes around the perimeter of the drying patio, with vegetable gardens and beautiful flower gardens softening the edges of what would otherwise be dirt, concrete, and machinery.
Our Group Coffee Buyer, Cam MacFadyen was lucky enough to visit in 2023 and was struck by the community feel, describing it as like a little village surrounding the patios and warehouses which gave it a really nice feel, usually on coffee farms the processing area is very industrial and the homes are situated further away.
The coffee from the Ferraz farms is mostly Natural processed Mundo Novo and Yellow Catuai and has lovely deep caramel sweetness, milk chocolate, sweet citrus and orange blossom, with really nice body and aftertaste. At 1200-1260 m.a.s.l. it is quite high by Brazilian standards, and we love the complex cup profile for our blends. We have mostly been buying Ferraz for Allpress Australia over the past 10 years, but in 2025 we are getting a container each in NZ and UK too, keep an eye out for it!
Fazenda Santa Alina
Through our proud relationship with an exporter named Qualicafex, who I will touch on in another email, we have been sourcing coffee from Santa Alina Estate, in Vale de Grama, near Sao Sebastian de Grama since 2009. It has been visited by Allpress people 4 or 5 times since then, and everyone would agree that the hospitality shown to us by the farm owner Tuca Dias is second to none. The farm has been in Tucas family since 1907. They actually have a plot of 100+ year old coffee trees that still produce great coffee to this day! Tuca is passionate about her community, health and wellbeing, and cares deeply for the 120+ workers and their families who live on the farm.
The farm is gorgeous, set in a valley of rolling hills ranging from 800 – 1200 m.a.s.l. There is a grand old farmhouse that Tuca has filled with colourful artwork. Dotted around the estate are many houses, with beautiful gardens of course, and even a small school on site where they provide extra tutoring for children that are needing support with Maths and Portuguese. In 2022 Allpress made a donation to pay for 2 children for 2 years of Kumon tutoring at Santa Alina, which Tuca had organised.
Santa Alina’s coffee is fantastic, and they have placed highly in regional and national coffee competitions. They have a large following in Korea and Japan, where most of their coffee is sold, and on the back of the competition results and their fame, the coffee is in high demand and the price is quite high, which is fantastic for Santa Alina of course. Unfortunately for Allpress, this does make it a bit less viable as a consistent high volume blend component, but we do continue to buy at least one container a year, sharing the volume between AENZ and AEJ where it is used in our blends and championed as a single origin filter coffee too. Most of the coffee is pulped-natural (aka honey-processed) but they also do natural and some smaller lots as washed process too. The cup profile is apricot, brown sugar, brandy, with rich sweetness and balanced acidity.
Jaguara
Jaguara is a newer relationship for us, we officially bought our first couple of containers from them earlier this year, but we had been working with Natalia Moreira Brito who is the co-founder and owner of the company along with her husband Andre Luiz Garcia, since 2013. Natalia used to work at Cafebras, whom we have sourced a great coffee “Melado” for the last 8+ years and other coffees before that. But over recent years, Natalia branched off to start her own business and we finally made our first purchases this year, after visiting a couple of their family farms in 2023. They own and operate 6 farms between them and both of their parents, in Sul de Minas, a few hours away from the coffee-hub town of Varginha, MG.
Jaguara is another company who truly cares for their people, and you can see it so clearly when spending time with them. Their office in Varginha looks like an amazing place to work, with the sun pouring in, colourful artwork on every wall, loud fun music, and an amazing display of retail coffee bags of Jaguara Coffee roasted by many roasters from around the world. Daniel and I were lucky enough to spend a few days with them last year and it just so happened to be their business anniversary, so we were invited to a BBQ and their whole crew was there, the hospitality was next level. We were also blessed to be able to spend a night at one of their farms Santa Lucia Estate, where they have a lake that Andre and Natalias children love to fish in, a huge vegetable garden that feeds the farm workers, and a massive forest with native trees and some of the hugest avocadoes I have ever laid eyes on.
At Jaguara they have a real focus on sustainable planting techniques, with diverse companion crops, self-made natural fertilisers, organic pest control, solar power, and experimenting with many different coffee varietals. They mostly do natural processed coffees but are also leaders in Brazil in innovative fermentation methods. They have placed 5th at the 2019 Brazil Cup of Excellence and continue to enter some of their microlots into this and other coffee competitions. Natalia is a big traveller, meeting clients and promoting the brand at all the big coffee expo’s – if you are ever attending WOC, London Coffee Festival, MICE, or other similar events, be sure to keep an eye out for Jaguara Coffee. We are buying more in 2025, the Jag Cult which is a blended cup profile coffee from across their 6 estates. Plums, almonds, chocolate and intense sweetness is the typical cup profile from Jaguara.
