We write a newsletter most months about what we've been doing lately, what's happening on the coffee farms, and what's coming up next.
July 2026
Notes from Brazil
Last month we visited Carmo Coffees, the exporter we work with, in Brazil to see the beginning of this year's harvest. Brazil is the largest coffee-producing country in the world, in both land mass and crop size — this year's harvest is projected at around 70 million bags, roughly 40% of the annual world crop. We stay in São Lourenço in Minas Gerais, a popular escape from the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro heat, known for its Parque das Águas and nine mineral water springs.
One highlight was our first visit to Sítio Irmãos Piazza Leite, a farm owned by brothers Marcilio and Marino Piazza Leite, who inherited the land from their mother Clarisse's family — she's still involved, making fresh cheese and crocheting cushion covers between visits. Farm manager José Francisco López (Zezé) showed us the plots, shaded by banana at the lower elevations and citrus higher up, both giving the farm extra income alongside coffee.
Marcilio and Marino send their cherry to the Pedra Branca mill in Pedralva, run by Rinaldo de Castro Junqueira (Pipoca) for Carmo Coffees — a mill that takes daily deliveries from hundreds of small farms in the area. We also visited Cria Carmo, an after-school project we've supported since we started buying from the Carmo group, currently enrolling 165 children aged 7–17 in chess, English, football and swimming.
June 2026
New coffees on the counter and plans for June
A lot of new coffees arrived on the counter over the last month or so and we have at least a handful more coming in the next few weeks. We are especially enjoying our new arrival from Peru — Amaybamba — as described in last month's newsletter. The coffee is tasting super and we are making plans to source a …
May 2026
A new coffee from Peru
We have just had a new coffee arrive on the counter which we are very excited about. For a few years now we have been looking for a coffee with a straightforward flavour profile, which is also traceable and sustainably traded. It hasn't been the easiest coffee to find, but with the help of our friends at Cultivar Coffees we …
April 2026
A Visit to Assukkar
We have been buying organic whole-cane sugar from Assukkar for twenty years now and it is always a delight to see the fields and factory where this incredible product is produced. This is a hot and humid part of Costa Rica. It is beautifully lush with an extraordinary range of greens due to the diversity of crops planted and surrounding …
March 2026
Chocolate!
We have two new delicious bars of chocolate from Chocolarder on our counter this month. Chocolarder continue to impress with their range of single origin bars made from directly sourced cocoa beans and they have recently posted some terrific videos in their Cornish-bean-to-bar series on their Instagram — well worth viewing to watch UK-grown cacao being processed into a chocolate …
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