Fresh from a trip to Brazil to meet some of the farmers who grow Merlo Coffee’s beans, COO David Holt reflects on current challenges at origin and why Australian consumers need to know the crop-to-cup journey.
Over the space of 10 days and thousands of kilometres, David Holt’s perspective on the coffee industry was drawn into sharp focus. Despite working for Merlo Coffee Roasters in Queensland for the past four years, the Chief Operating Officer’s first trip to origin in July 2024 was an eye-opening experience that’s inspired a renewed focus on the journey from farm to cup.
Accompanied by representatives from other Australian coffee companies and the team at Bennetts coffee traders, David travelled around some of Brazil’s well-known growing regions, visiting large cooperatives, smallholder farms, and community mills. By chance, he even got to meet some of the farmers who have grown coffees purchased by Merlo.
“The experience was hugely educational. Our Q Graders and Head of Coffee usually go on these origin trips, but I got the chance to see what’s happening on the ground and, as a business leader, gather new insights to bring to the company,” says David.
“We travelled more than 2000 kilometres over the 10 days and witnessed a variety of farms and producing methods – from vast commodity-grade farms using automatic machinery to smaller setups where the coffee cherries are still picked by hand.”
Brazil is the world’s largest coffee producer, supplying about a third of the beans consumed by the one billion global consumers estimated to drink it each day. Harvests vary each year, but in the coffee year 2022/2023 the country produced approximately 3.5 billion kilograms of coffee. For David, visiting just a handful of its estimated 300,000 coffee farms put the scale of the country’s production into perspective.
“Seeing the landscape, production, and people firsthand brought home the immense size of the industry,” he says.
“The scale of some of the cooperatives is enormous, with several having a network of about 20,000 farmers. One that we visited ships 250 containers of coffee each day.”
As well as witnessing the vast size of the Brazilian coffee industry and seeing different farming techniques in action, David believes one of his most significant learnings from the experience was the connection between crop and cup.
“In the Australian coffee industry, we tend to focus on the second half of the supply chain: the green beans arrive, we roast them, and then serve them at our cafés,” he says.
“Many consumers here are still a long way from understanding the full journey the coffee takes to end up in their morning cup. Learning about the first half of the supply chain can be hugely beneficial when talking to consumers about things such as pricing and quality.”
Education has always been at the heart of Merlo, but David’s recent trip has renewed the roaster’s focus. Returning with a huge amount of collateral including images, first-hand accounts, and statistics from green-bean partner Bennetts, the team plan to share what they learnt with their customers and Australian consumers over the next few months.
An important element of this knowledge sharing will be a focus on the effects of climate change. During the visit, David saw first-hand the environmental challenges Brazil’s growing regions are currently facing. A series of extreme weather events, including frost, drought, and higher-than-normal temperatures, over the past three years have greatly impacted the country’s coffee production.
“In 2021, Brazil’s growing regions experienced wide-spread frost that caused major damage to many coffee trees. On my trip, I witnessed that many of these farms are still recovering as it takes a couple of years to yield coffee from these trees again,” he says.
“At some farms, around a third of their crops were wiped out and had to be replanted. The region was then hit by an unseasonably dry spell, which further impacted production.”
According to David, this series of unfortunate weather events has not only led to decreased production but also an impact on quality. These factors have had a knock-on effect on the coffee market, contributing to the recent price surge of coffee that’s been felt by roasters across the world.
“Market volatility is an issue we, and many other roasters, are currently facing. We look at the fluctuations daily. We won’t sacrifice on quality, so we’re cupping and trialling new variants and regions to get our hands on the best coffee possible,” he says.
“Price isn’t the only issue either. The supply chain has also been impacted by things such as geopolitics. It feels like we’re working 10 times harder to get the same outcome.”
Despite these challenges, David says Merlo continues to source exciting coffees for its customers across Australia. As part of the trip, David took part in a cupping session with World Cup Tasters Champion Dionatan Almeida. Among the more than 20 micro-lots tasted, David was able to select a new coffee to feature in Merlo’s Bean of the Month series.
“It was pretty cool to taste these high-grade coffees with a World Champion,” he says.
“As part of our Bean of the Month program, we showcase specialty coffees with cupping scores of more than 85. They’re available for a limited time in our Merlo stores and website, and for our wholesale customers to serve at their stores.
While blends are still the most popular coffee choice for most Australians, David believes single origins are becoming more popular with younger coffee drinkers.
“Coffee blends are our heritage and Merlo will always be rooted in the traditional, Italian-style espresso. However, single origins are definitely on the rise and connoisseurs are loving high-scoring specialty coffees in which they can explore a huge range of flavours,” he says.
Brazilian coffees are a vital component in many of Merlo’s much-loved blends, yet David says the company has a global perspective when it comes to sourcing. Navigating the volatility of international coffee markets while maintaining their focus on quality and consistency, the team source from right across the growing belt to create coffees that appeal to Australian taste preferences.
“Traditionally, Queensland coffee drinkers love that medium-dark roast that delivers chocolate and caramel flavours. Most of the coffee served here is prepared with milk, so those notes are a great match,” says David.
“Classic Italian espresso is at the core of our business, but many of the under 35s are being more experimental and looking for complex flavours. That’s why our Bean of the Month series works so well.”
David and the team at Merlo plan to visit more of the farms that supply their Queensland roastery in 2025 and continue their focus on education, so more coffee drinkers in Australia understand and appreciate the source of their morning ritual.
“We source coffee from pretty much everywhere that grows it, even Australia,” he says.
“We can’t wait to share more of the stories from origin in the future.”
For more information, visit merlo.com.au
This article appears in the December/January 2025 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
