Special Release – Jean Vilhena. Santa Monica – Castilho, Anaerobic Natural.
Tastes of: Amarena cherry, toffee, raspberry, dark chocolate
PRE ORDER. Roasting on Tuesday 23rd September, 6th October *whilst stock lasts.
*We’ll be roasting this in a Filter roast style, however we have experimented with expresso extraction of this profile and found amazing results. When ordered, our team will share our recommended recipes so you can prepare for both*.
This very special release comes from Fazenda Santa Mônica in Ibiraci, Alta Mogiana (1260 m), where producer Jean Vilhena Faleiros continues a coffee story that began more than a century ago. The Faleiros family are part of the Eldorado group—seven family-run properties guided by Jean and his father, Mr Laerce. They often say they are “blessed” to farm in Ibiraci; it’s a pocket of Brazil known for altitude, cool nights and exceptional coffees. Their approach spans the entire chain, from seedling production through to export, with an emphasis on balance and sustainability. All coffee by-products are returned to the fields as compost, and the farm now relies on organomineral fertilisers to nourish the soil, supporting healthy trees and sweeter fruit.
After harvest, cherries for Lot 14C (Castilho varietal) were selected at peak ripeness and placed into stainless-steel tanks for 84 hours of controlled anaerobic fermentation with Oro yeast. The tanks rotate and maintain temperature automatically—precision that protects fruit character while building depth and sweetness. Once fermentation was complete, the coffee moved to the farm’s extensive raised African-bed patios (an 8,000 m² “six-star hotel” for coffee, as the team likes to say). Drying was deliberately slow and staged: five days of initial bed-drying; then a careful “folding” routine—first to half, resting five days; then to a quarter, resting five more; finally to a third, continuing until the lot reached ~15% moisture. The coffee was then rested in big bags to stabilise at ~11.5% moisture before milling.
Our ethos here at Criteria Coffee is grounded in the saying “Exceptional Coffee Always” This example has all the hall marks of a coffee that we’re honoured to have on our menu and we hope you enjoy experiencing it as much as we have.
PRE ORDER NOTES: For this special release your coffee will roast on the nearest matching production date Tuesday 23rd September and 6th November 2025. All coffees ordered along with this special release will dispatch together. We recommend placing separate orders if you’d like split delivery. As we’ve secured only a small volume of this coffee, roasting dates may close earlier.
Keen to learn how we brew, follow along our favourite preparations – here.
