In the famed coffee belt of Brazil’s Minas Gerais region, the team at Santa Monica Farm continues a century-long legacy of growing, nurturing and processing some of the finest coffee beans in Brazil.
Situated at 1,240 MASL, Santa Monica benefits from an ideal microclimate for producing exceptional coffee. Today, the farm is led by third-generation coffee producer Jean Vilhena Faleiros. This is the second time Zest has brought Jean’s coffee to Australia, as we continue to find that he produces some of the most exciting microlots coming out of Brazil.
Under Jean’s guidance, Santa Monica places a strong focus on sustainability, rejecting the use of chemical insecticides and herbicides. Jean also continues to push quality forward through ongoing improvements to his fermentation processing equipment, including state-of-the-art temperature-controlled drums.
For this lot, Jean has cultivated the renowned Geisha variety, which is somewhat rarer in Brazil than in its neighbouring coffee-producing countries. The coffee cherries are placed into tanks with EC1118 yeast, before the tanks are sealed to create an anaerobic environment with no oxygen.
This combination of yeast and anaerobic fermentation encourages the consumption of sugars in the coffee cherry fruit, helping to develop a range of aromatic compounds within the seed. The coffee is left to ferment for 94 hours, close to four days, before being dried with the cherry intact on raised African beds.
The coffee is then pulped and carefully prepared for shipping to Zest.
