Bela Vista, Brazil

About this coffee

Fazenda Bela Vista has been in the Lima Reis family for over a hundred years. Isabela and Antônio run it today, with the fourth generation already coming up behind them. The farm sits at 1,000 metres in Nepomuceno, Sul de Minas, the region most people call the birthplace of Brazilian specialty coffee. What makes Bela Vista distinct is what's been kept and what's been added. Centenary trees still stand. An ecological reserve still runs through the land. And alongside that, Isabela and Antônio are investing in the technology and processing to keep getting more from the terroir, particularly as the climate makes coffee farming harder year on year. Classic Brazilian profile: deep chocolate, toffee sweetness, a clean nutty finish. Works beautifully as espresso, especially with milk.

The cherries are dried whole in the sun on patios, turned regularly, watched closely - which is what gives a natural Brazilian its body and the sweetness that runs through it. It's the traditional Brazilian approach, done properly. The fruit stays on the bean long enough to do its work, then comes off at exactly the right moment.