In Minas Gerais (swipe for photos), we are met by Luiz Paulo and his family who run several exciting farms in the area. Luiz and the team at CarmoCoffees are long-time direct trade partners of Intelligentsia, pivotal to our Black Cat program.​​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​​ Touring the farms of Carmo de Minas, the air of the Ama Project is filled with beautiful floral scents from the flowering fields of Geisha, around 100 hectares. Perhaps one of the largest concentrated Geisha farms in the world (that we know of).​​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​​ We stop next at Fazenda Santuario Sul which is as much an exploration of varietal diversification as a love letter to coffee from around the world. 30 varieties, 4 types of Geisha, with many of these seeds coming from exchanges at Intelligentsia's annual Extraordinary Coffee Workshop.​​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​​ We are at the end of the harvest in Carmo de Minas, so after touring these farms, we are taken through the state of the art dry milling center that services the surrounding farm projects. QC is of the utmost priority here. Results we see immediately first hand in cupping.