Our house blend, Dos Pueblos (“two towns”), brings together coffees from our direct producer partnerships and trusted importers to create a sweet, smooth and balanced cup. The components rotate with the seasons and what we think is tasting best at the time. Delicious on its own or paired with milk or alt-milk, it’s our go-to everyday espresso.

This component comes from the Association of Producers of the Volcanic Region, which represents smallholder coffee producers across 12 municipalities on the border of Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The Volcanic region sits within the remnants of an ancient volcanic caldera, leaving soils rich in minerals and micronutrients. Combined with mild temperatures and high rainfall, these conditions are ideal for producing specialty coffee.

Around 85% of the Volcanic Region’s coffee is grown by small producers. Since its founding over 15 years ago, the Association has supported these farmers through training, workshops, and knowledge-sharing.

We sourced this lot through Vequis Coffee Experts, a speciality coffee exporter based in Brazil. During our visit to Brazil in September 2024, we cupped a selection of samples with two members of their team, Thiago Trovo and Juliana Senciano, who provided us with an invaluable introduction to Brazilian coffee production.  We selected this coffee for our blend, with Osito then coordinating its transport to the UK.

This natural lot, grown at 800–1500 MASL, adds milk-chocolate and caramel notes and a smooth, medium body to the blend.

This is the second coffee we imported directly from Ethiopia this year, in partnership with Mulugeta Tsige Exporters — a family-run business based in Yirgacheffe. Founder Mr Mulugeta grew up working on his family’s coffee farm, later supporting Ethiopian coffee cooperatives to bring their coffees to market. In 2020, he established his own washing station and gained an export licence, with the aim of producing exceptional coffees while ensuring farmers are fairly rewarded for their work. 

We first connected earlier this year, quickly realising how closely our values aligned when it comes to working directly with producers. After a few calls and a round of harvest samples, we were sold. 

We chose two microlots to bring over, with this one grown at 2,200-2400 MASL by a group of smallholder producers based in Udessa (a sub-region of Yirgacheffe). This coffee comprises three varietals (74158, Kurume and Dega). The coffee is fermented in tanks for 48 hours, then washed and dried on raised beds for 7-10 days. The result is a bright cup with a fruit-forward acidity that balances out the milk chocolate notes from the Minas Gerais lot.