Sandbox - Carbonic Macerated Red Catuai | Brazil

---

Brazil — Jorge Barretto Casa Almeida Red Catuai (Carbonic Maceration)

Tastes Like — 🫐 Ripe Berries • 🍓 Jam • 🍷 Red Fruit

DETAILS

• Producer: Jorge Barretto
• Farm: Casa Almeida
• Region: Minas Gerais, Brazil
• Varietal: Red Catuai
• Process: Carbonic Maceration
• Harvest: 2025
• Size: 150g

INTRO

A limited-edition nanolot from Jorge Barretto at Casa Almeida — a farm better known for its clean, chocolate-driven naturals, here showcasing an entirely different dimension. Processed in award-winning stainless steel tanks using carbonic maceration, this Red Catuai delivers vibrant ripe berry sweetness, a delicate jam-like richness, and a silky texture, all with remarkable balance and without any heaviness.

THE PRODUCER

Casa Almeida is a family estate in Minas Gerais led by Jorge Barretto, specialising in both specialty coffee and wine. The farm's philosophy centres on a balance of scientific precision and artisanal craft, with minimal intervention as a guiding principle — allowing the genetic character of each variety and the specific qualities of the terroir to speak clearly in the cup. A deep commitment to sustainability and community runs through the estate's operations, from soil stewardship to working conditions for the team.

Red Catuai is a compact, resilient dwarf variety — a cross between Mundo Novo and Caturra — widely cultivated across Brazil for its productivity and reliability. While it is most commonly associated with clean, chocolate-driven profiles under natural processing, this carbonic maceration lot demonstrates the variety's capacity for expressive red fruit character when given the right conditions and technique.

THE PROCESS

The Carbonic Maceration process at Casa Almeida involves:

🍒 Hand-picking — Cherries harvested at peak ripeness 🔍 Sorting — Only the finest ripe cherries selected for this nanolot 🛢️ Sealed tank fermentation — Whole cherries placed in stainless steel tanks purged with CO2, creating an oxygen-free environment 🌡️ Controlled fermentation — Temperature and pH levels monitored throughout to ensure a clean, consistent result ☀️ Drying — Coffee dried after fermentation to reach optimal moisture content

The sealed CO2 environment is the defining step — fermentation occurs within each individual cherry under controlled pressure, slowly breaking down sugars in a way that builds pronounced, wine-like complexity and vibrant red fruit definition without compromising clarity or balance.

THE CUP

An elegant and expressive nanolot that reveals a side of Red Catuai rarely seen from Brazil — vivid with ripe berries and jam, silky in texture, and impeccably balanced. A testament to what precision processing can unlock from a familiar variety in the hands of a dedicated producer.

Flavour Notes

🫐 Ripe Berries 🍓 Jam 🍷 Red Fruit