Basecamp Coffee Rolling Subscription

A solid Brazilian coffee is a cornerstone of our single origin lineup. The flavour profile from this origin is unfailingly creamy, nutty and chocolatey, which makes it perfect for a rich mellow espresso. When we buy Brazilian coffee we look for maximum sweetness and clarity of flavours, and this coffee delivers.

Amanda Galheri’s delicious coffee is back for a second year. We returned to it for its high quality, reliable flavour profile, which our customers love. This coffee is the perfect single-origin espresso and will especially shine in milky drinks.

Amanda Galheri, who grew this coffee and is a member of Expocacer, is a third-generation coffee producer from Paraná who moved to Cerrado with her family after the historic frost in the late 1970s. Since childhood, she has been interested in coffee and was encouraged by her father, Mauro Galheri, to focus on quality as a way to add more value to their product. Over the past decade, Amanda has become increasingly involved in the production of specialty coffee lots. In 2023, she was recognized as one of three champions in Expocacer’s quality competition.

This lot of Catuai was selectively harvested so that only beans of uniform maturity and high enough sucrose content were processed. The first day after picking, the beans were spread on a patio and regularly turned. From the second day onward, they were arranged in pyramid-shaped rows and left to rest, encouraging light fermentation and a gradual increase in sugar levels. For the next 18 days, Galheri alternates between allowing the beans full sun exposure, which dries them out, and covering them with black canvas, which allows for more fermentation. Once the moisture content reached 11.8 percent, she packed this lot into big bags and left it to rest in the farm’s shed for 20 days before processing. Finally, the coffee was processed and graded at Expocacer’s mill to remove the dried skin, fruit and parchment, which is the inner protective layer around the beans.

Variety

Catuai is a variety we often gravitate toward when we’re cupping Brazilian coffees. We love its clean, very sweet, flavour profile. It’s also easier than some other varieties to roast well. Our roaster was recently on a webinar with roasting consultant and author Rob Hoos where he remarked on the variety’s large and forgiving sweet spot.

There are several lines of this compact, high yielding variety grown in Brazil. A cross between Mundo Novo and Caturra created in 1949 and released in 1972, it’s also grown in Honduras, Costa Rica and Guatemala. Its popularity grew in the 70s and 80s because its small stature allows it to be planted densely and harvested more efficiently. These qualities led in part to the intensification of full-sun coffee cultivation in Central America at that time.

The variety is highly susceptible to leaf rust, which makes it less desirable to grow, but according to World Coffee Research the national coffee institute in Honduras, IHCAFE, is pursuing breeding programs with Catuai including creating hybrid crosses between Catuai and Timor Hybrid lines, which could mitigate disease risk.

Country

As the largest exporter of Arabica coffee in the world, Brazil’s coffee sector has a huge impact on global prices, which have been fluctuating wildly over the last several years. After spiking in 2022 and continuing to break records throughout 2024, prices reached higher than ever in both April and August 2025. The price surges have been due in part to unprecedented weather, poorer than expected crop yields and market volatility. But last summer there was further upset because the Trump administration levied a 50% tariff on imported goods from Brazil. As a result, there’s been a huge increase of Brazilian coffee imports to neighbouring Colombia. Brazil’s coffee exports to Colombia rose 461% in September 2025, compared to the same period in 2024. According to news reports, analysts believe that Colombia may be taking advantage of the increased availability of Brazilian coffee to re-export it indirectly to the U.S., as their own exports are exempt from the Trump administration’s tariffs.

It seems logical that if Brazil can’t sell coffee to the US, coffee imports to the EU and UK will get cheaper, but that’s not actually how it works, according to one trade publication, Coffee Intelligence. For one thing, China and Russia have started buying a lot of Brazilian coffee, so some of the slack in the market has been picked up there. Coffee Intelligence also explains that Brazil is the de facto price setter for global arabica and robusta markets, thanks to its sheer scale and efficiency. So, price increases in Brazil mean volatility and increases across the market, in the short term at least. And there’s rigidity built into the coffee market because of long term contracts and established logistics and supply chains, so changing where coffee goes at the drop of a hat isn’t realistic. And finally, there really is no other origin that supplies as much coffee of the same flavour profile and quality as Brazil. Buyers are looking to Colombia, Peru and Ethiopia, but the quality at the same quantity and low price just aren’t there.

If variety is the spice of your life, check out our Variety Pack HERE - all four of our current single origin coffees (250g of each), available as beans or ground for £44.