Vanessa Moreno Espresso - Brazil, Alta Mogiana

ROUND - DARK CHOCOLATE - HAZELNUT

Variety: Catucai Processing: Natural Altitude: 900 m.a.s.l. Harvested: July 2024 Taste notes: Round with notes of dark chocolate and hazelnuts

Close to the city of Franca, in the region of Alta Mogiana, you’ll find the Moreno family farm Fazenda São Felipe. Some years ago Vanessa Moreno left the rural area of her family to study and become a lawyer and seek out a career in the city. A few years later she missed the farm life, and wanted to return to once again be connected with nature. This connection reflects on everything she does at the farm, being a passionate and very hands-on producer. Together with her mother, Vanessa is investing in regenerative practices, like planting new trees, not just coffee, every year to slowly bring back diversity to the farm. They want to recover as many areas as possible and reforest them, focusing on the land around springs and bodies of water. Vanessa’s reasoning for focusing on sustainable practices are not for marketing reasons, rather she says she believes it to be the right way to work the land and produce coffee, and to hopefully be an inspiration to others in the future.

Whole coffee beans roasted for espresso.

This espresso from Morgon Coffee Roasters showcases the Catucai varietal grown in Brazil's Alta Mogiana region by producer Vanessa Moreno. The natural process contributes a fuller body and fruit-forward character typical of this approach—here balanced with dark chocolate and hazelnut notes that suggest a more decadent profile. The roaster emphasizes roundness, indicating a smooth mouthfeel suited to espresso preparation. Natural-processed coffees tend to display heavier, dried-fruit characteristics, though this lot's emphasis on chocolate and nuts points toward a more structured sweetness.