Bioma Café must be a sight to behold: 230 hectares of farmland, with 150 planted between 1,150 and 1,200 meters above sea level—prime for specialty. It’s a heck of an operation, and Marcelo Assis is the one steering the ship. 

Those who know TC know we rarely work with producers at scales like this, but Marcelo is able to keep things afloat without sacrificing ethics or excellence. Since 2019, the 140-hectare specialty segment of Bioma Café, called Fazenda Olhos d’Água, has been part of the Cerrado Mineiro Designation of Origin program. To earn this fully traceable seal of quality and provenance, all coffees must uphold sustainable farming practices and equitable business management in addition to the prerequisite of exquisite quality. In other words, when going big, there’s nobody we’d rather go with than Marcelo. 

This is the fifth season we’ve shared some of Marcelo’s coffee, and the first time was all the way back in 2018 when we were just getting started. Though we love his coffees every year, 2024 was an ESPECIALLY excellent harvest, with his coffees going BIG at Brazil’s Cup of Excellence competitions: #9 in the Natural Category, #’s 2 and 6 in the Honey Category, and #1 in the Experimental Category—setting a RECORD HIGH score in competition history!

Like we always say—MARCELO FTW