Fontana

Brazilian coffee is the everyday hero for any roaster. So when I went looking for one, I wanted to find a coffee with a solid story and a producer with a long-term vision you can grow with. Ellen Fontana’s projects caught my attention.

For me, Fontana is a perfect combination of creamy, nutty comfort with just enough funk and fruit to keep every cup exciting. I love challenging people to pour something special, but when you need a true crowd pleaser, Fontana is my go-to.

Sometimes it’s still a bit too funky for the most cautious drinkers, but I don’t want to go milder than this. Fontana hits that sweet spot of quality and price whilst staying true to my vision on brightness and depth of flavour.

Ellen Fontana is the fifth generation of coffee growers in her family, but her approach to farming is anything but traditional. After her grandfather passed and she took over the estate, she asked herself, “how can I do this right?” That question led her to agroforestry, minimal interference, and a deep commitment to environmental stewardship.

Her farm, Fazenda Fronteiras, spans 100 hectares in Socorro, São Paulo. Only 23 hectares are used for coffee, which grows alongside banana, avocado, and eucalyptus. The rest is either preserved forest or wild land that Ellen is slowly reforesting with a biodiverse mix of native trees. Together with neighbors and supporting organisations, she’s protecting a forest of around 70,000 trees, caring for the river, and creating alternative income sources like honey.

Ellen’s approach is hands-off and regenerative. She uses natural pest control methods, like encouraging wasps that eat borer eggs, and is switching to organic fertiliser made from cow manure, banana peels, and other organic waste. Her water use is minimal, and her impact is growing.

She entered the specialty coffee market in 2013 and has steadily built a reputation for quality and resilience. The frost of 2021 was a major setback, during which about 10% of her trees died, but Ellen sees climate adversity as part of the job. Every year brings new challenges, and she meets them with humility and resolve.

We work with This Side Up to import Ellen’s coffee, and they were the ones who introduced us to her. Her work stood out immediately: a producer with a long-term vision, a regenerative farm, and a coffee that’s as thoughtful as it is tasty. Fontana is more than just another Brazilian coffee, it’s it’s a glimpse of what coffee farming can be.

In an effort to regenerate and bring broken forests back together, Raízes do Mogi Guaçu (Conservation Roots) in alliance with Copaíba, and the WWF, and around ten coffee growers, neighbors of Ellen, the Atlantic Forest restoration project was born. As part of this program, Ellen recently planted around 1, 700 native trees. “The other day,” she tells us, “as I was driving Isabel to school, I ran into a small jaguar. We had never seen one so close, and since this project started, more animals are showing up.”