Mara Madeira | Brazil

Producer: Sitio Penha, Nova Resende, Brazil Tasting notes: dried cherry, molasses, banana bread Process: extended fermentation natural Roast: light Sourcing: relationship coffee This month, we're proud to share a unique extended fermentation natural process coffee from an amazing mother and daughter team—Julia and her mother, Maria, of Mara Madeira Coffee in the Sul de Minas region of Brazil. Like so many of our direct relationships begin—we connected with Julia last year by chance through an email, followed by a WhatsApp message. Then, after months of working together, cupping samples, solidifying logistics—we bought our first bags of exclusively woman-produced coffee from Mara Madeira last fall. Included in that initial purchase of nearly 200 bags of coffee to feature in our blends were 4 bags of an extremely limited, delicious coffee that almost didn't exist. This special coffee started its journey as incredibly high-brix (high sugar content) coffee cherries, picked at their peak ripeness during harvest. This was going to be their highest quality lot of the year, and the family was so excited to get it to the mill for processing. But disaster struck when the large truck used to transport the harvested coffee cherries broke down on a remote part of the farm, and couldn't be moved for days. During this time, they worried that the coffee they worked so hard on would be ruined. When they finally got the truck working again, they took the cherries to the mill to process them naturally and try to save at least some of the coffee. After a slow, steady drying time of 23 days, this coffee, which they thought was ruined, became one of the best they'd ever produced! The extended aerobic fermentation in the truck bed, combined with the longer than average drying time, resulted in an incredibly complex cup, full of sweetness and fruit-forward notes at a level not typically found in most Brazilian natural coffees. Luckily for them and for us, what could have been a disaster became a new process for Mara Madeira. They're now working to reproduce this process in a controlled environment, to make this lot available year after year. This coffee is available in limited amounts now in-store and online! In the cup, we hope you'll taste notes of dried cherry, molasses, and banana bread.