Brazil sits at the heart of the global coffee market. As the world’s largest producer, its harvest volumes shape the global C market price, influencing what coffee farmers across the world can earn for their crops. With so much emphasis placed on quantity, it can be difficult to find Brazilian producers who are truly committed to specialty coffee - those who prioritise quality, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility alongside scale.
That’s exactly why our long-standing relationship with Marcelo Montanari has always meant so much to us.
A Relationship Built on Shared Values
We’ve been working with Marcelo and his family since 2014, when we first connected over a shared belief that Brazilian coffee could - and should - be better. Based in Minas Gerais, Marcelo is a fourth-generation coffee farmer whose approach seamlessly aligns with our own here at North Star Coffee Roasters.
From the very beginning, his coffee from Fazenda Rainha Da Paz became a cornerstone of what we do. Season after season, it delivered exactly what we look for in a natural Brazilian coffee: balance, sweetness, body, and those unmistakable chocolate and nut notes. It quickly became one of our most popular coffees and an essential component of our House blend - a familiar, dependable presence on bar and with many of our wholesale partners.
Beyond the cup, what truly set Marcelo apart was his unwavering commitment to doing things properly. He champions biodiversity, invests in his workforce, experiments relentlessly with varietals, and openly shares his findings to help push coffee farming forward across the region. Even the orientation of his coffee trees is carefully considered to maximise sunlight exposure - nothing is left to chance.
When Nature Changed the Plan
In July 2021, everything changed. A freak “black frost” swept through Minas Gerais, with temperatures dropping as low as -1.2°C. The damage to coffee crops was devastating. Not only was the 21/22 harvest severely impacted, but the effects were felt long after, with subsequent harvests also falling well below expectations.
For producers like the Montanari family, this meant dramatically reduced volumes and huge financial pressure. With less coffee available, farmers were forced to rely on higher market prices to recover losses and fund replanting efforts. Despite our deep relationship, Marcelo simply didn’t have the volume to meet what is one of our largest contracts - and with rising costs across the supply chain at our end too, we had to make the incredibly difficult decision to step away, at least temporarily.
At the time, we said: “Goodbyes don’t necessarily have to last forever.” And we meant it.
Innovation, Sustainability, and a Way Forward
During Marcelo’s absence from our offer list, we continued to be inspired by his approach. Across the Montanari family farms, innovation is constant. Marcelo employs modern, quality-focused farming practices alongside mechanised picking to ensure consistency and efficiency. His farms are carbon neutral through carbon insetting - achieved via solar energy, repurposing parchment to fuel dryers, and preserving more than the legally required percentage of land as wild reserve.
Every varietal planted has a purpose, ensuring staggered ripening throughout the year, maximising yield, and preventing processing bottlenecks. This level of planning and experimentation is critical as climate change forces coffee producers to adapt, and Marcelo is firmly at the forefront of that work in Brazil.
A Very Welcome Return
Now, we’re incredibly proud to say that one of Marcelo Montanari’s pulped natural coffees has returned to our offer list - and it feels right. This coffee represents everything we love about Brazilian specialty coffee when it’s done well: comforting, crowd-pleasing flavours underpinned by thoughtful, progressive farming.
Expect the hallmark sweetness, creamy body, and classic chocolate and nut notes - a profile that feels familiar, dependable, and deeply satisfying, while also carrying a story of resilience, innovation, and long-term thinking.
In a country where volume often dominates the conversation, Marcelo continues to prove that scale and quality don’t have to be mutually exclusive. His coffee is a reminder of what’s possible when care for people, planet, and product sit at the centre of production.
Felicidades.