Being the largest producer of arabica in the world, there's no shortage of incredible coffees grown throughout Brazil. We've worked with Brazilian coffee almost since day one and today, it forms the backbone of our most iconic blends.
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 consistency's 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 a 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 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 standouts in particular.
Familia Ferraz
Buying since 2014, we've visited this farm several times over the years. It's 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 and drying patios, and there is a small cluster of modest family homes around the perimeter with vegetables 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 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, which has lovely deep caramel sweetness, milk chocolate, sweet citrus and orange blossom notes, with good body and aftertaste. At 1200-1260 masl, it is quite high by Brazilian standards – we love the complex cup profile the altitude produces 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 exporter Qualicafex, we've been sourcing coffee from Santa Alina Estate in Vale de Grama, near Sao Sebastian de Grama, since 2009. We've visited four or five 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 Tuca's family since 1907 – they 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 masl. Dotted around the estate are many houses, with beautiful gardens, and even a small school on site where they provide extra tutoring for children that need support with maths and Portuguese. In 2022, Allpress donated funds to pay two children's tuition for two 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. On the back of competition results and 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 consistently high-volume blend component, but we do continue to buy at least one container a year, sharing the volume between Allpress NZ and Allpress JPN, 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 vibrant with apricot, brown sugar, and brandy notes, 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 have been working with Natalia Moreira Brito—the co-founder and owner of the company—along with her husband Andre Luiz Garcia, since 2013.
Natalia used to work at Cafebras, where we have sourced a great coffee “Melado” for the last 8+ years, as well as other coffees before that. Recently, 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 that truly cares for its people – 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 ofJaguara Coffee roasted by many roasters around the world. We were lucky enough to spend a few days with them recently, spending 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.
At Jaguara, they focus on sustainable agricultural techniques with diverse companion crops, self-made natural fertilisers, organic pest control, solar power, and experimenting with many different coffee varietals.
They mostly produce natural-processed coffees but are also leaders in Brazil in innovative fermentation methods. Having placed 5th at the 2019 Brazil Cup of Excellence, they continue to enter some of their micro-lots into this and other coffee competitions.
Natalia is a big traveller, meeting clients and promoting the brand at all the big coffee expos – 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're looking forward to buying more of their exceptional coffee in 2025 – the Jag Cult, a blended cup from across their six estates. With delicious notes of plums, almonds, and chocolate, it's intensely sweet, as is typical from the Jaguara team.
