Comfort Blend

This is the most 'standard' tasting coffee on our menu, but perhaps the one we're most excited about. We love a lot of things about Brazil as a coffee origin: It has a high minimum wage, a strong domestic consumption market to support producers, and we have more than a decade's worth of relationships and buying experience there. Brazil 'Futures' is now one of our core, year-round coffees that keeps a consistent flavor profile of melted chocolate and macadamia whilst being sourced from various smallholder farmers who can benefit from partnering with Skylark. You can read more about the mechanisms we're using below. It's a little nerdy, but very cool. We think you'll love it... It's the perfect 'coffee flavored coffee' with a big dose of impact. Elevation: 1000 Meters above Sea Level (average)Varietal: VariousCup score: 82Price paid per kg: £7.50Process: Fully natural, cherries are sorted, then dried on patios Read more about the entire deal down below from when we first launched 'Futures' in 2025: Replacing good with great We’re moving away from our most-purchased coffee, our go-to Brazil Santa Rosa that’s always been our best value for money. Why would we do that? Because we think we’ve found a way to get better values for our money. This week, we’re launching a new core Brazil that is more chocolatey, affordable in this market, and delivers a far greater impact for farmers and the environment. We’re calling this coffee Brazil Futures — it’s about financial security for the people who grow it. As a core ingredient in many of our blends, this coffee reaches a lot of people in the supply chain and among our coffee drinkers, too. Here’s how it works: Brazil Futures comes from small family farms, which are typically more ecologically sustainable than Brazil’s large coffee plantations. The growers are members of a small and relatively unknown association called Associação da Barra, and we’ve sourced the coffee through Minasul, a medium-sized cooperative that is very clever about using coffee “futures” contracts to empower producers, not just themselves. How to solve farmers staying poor while the market goes up You might have heard: the price for green coffee is the highest it’s ever been – almost 3 times the average price of the last 15 years. This is causing chaos in the coffee industry, and those futures contracts play a key role. What follows is a little technical, but complex problems require some explanation, so here we go: All coffee is bought and sold on the Futures or ‘C’ market at the stock exchange in New York. Historically, this has been used to make traders and big corporations rich while keeping coffee prices low and farmers poor. Since the price for coffee has recently tripled, however, some of the biggest coffee traders in the world are in trouble – essentially because papering over bad ‘futures’ bets and rapid growth speculation takes cash, and that’s in short supply with each sack of coffee costing 2-3x what it did 16 months ago. We’re seeing exporter/importers sell out to Saudi wealth funds and oil companies or file for bankruptcy protection, including the exporting partners we used to work with in Brazil. Meanwhile, small producers struggle the most in volatile markets, so this is a key moment to choose our partners carefully and protect the less advantaged. Unlocking market power Here at Skylark, we’re now big enough to buy full shipping containers of Brazilian coffee, which unlocks a new phase of work with trusted partners like Minasul to increase our impact beyond just what we pay for coffee. Instead of using the futures market to speculate for their own profit, Minasul allows farmers to convert their coffee from futures contracts into physical coffee (and vice versa) at a time that benefits them, much like stock traders do. This is highly unusual and means that smaller farmers have more control and can boost their income in ways that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to do. Minasul also sells most of their coffee within Brazil rather than exporting it. This means that their business is more stable and they have access to quick cash to pay farmers promptly – a huge deal if you’re a coffee grower. Both Minasul and Skylark are paying premiums to the farmers as well as donating some much-needed equipment and tech for the growers’ cooperative. We’ll be increasing these donations throughout the coming years using our pledge to put £1 per kilo sold into grower empowerment projects. We’re then importing the coffee through our friends at Falcon who understand the work we’re doing at Skylark and brilliantly support these kinds of arrangements. Environmental potential The final argument for Brazil Futures centres on the ecological advantage of small family farms, whether certified organic or not. One of the growers, Arcanjo Alexadre Alves, is carrying on a type of attentive farming begun by his grandfather in the 1980s. Another, Afonso Donizetti Silva, began with just 145 coffee trees, producing 4 bags of coffee (two for him, two for his wife). These are the kinds of smallholders we’d like to support while buying a large percentage of their total production. Don’t get us wrong – our longstanding Brazil Santa Rosa was an affordable coffee from a large-scale producer that pays workers well and offsets carbon emissions. That was good! But it seems more ‘Skylark’ to support farmers with less of their own security. That’s even better. Welcome to Brazil Futures.

João Artur Siqueira Rodrigues runs his coffee farm with a level of warmth and enthusiasm that overflows into his community and is just the kind of small family business we love to support. Our co-founder Micah had the pleasure of meeting João and his family earlier this year and couldn't resist buying a few bags of this tasty natural with notes of chocolate, citrus, and Brazil nuts. This is a classic story of a medium-sized family farm growing brilliant, chocolatey coffee. We’ve seldom met someone with as much ‘dad energy’ as João Artur: He was excited to show off his restoration of a classic Chevrolet work truck, but not nearly as excited as he was to show off the healthy coffee trees which he’s planted right up to the walls of their lovely family home. He is rightfully proud of how he’s shifted production of his farm from various fruits into coffee at the right time to grow into the specialty coffee market. The entire family met us with warmth, kindness, and laughter when we visited, and the love that’s in this farm is palpable. This medium-sized family business shows how coffee farming can be a sustainable livelihood in places like Brazil, and we think that’s something to be celebrated! Based in Minas Gerais, João grows three varieties of coffee on his farm: Red Mundo Novo, Yellow Catucai, and Yellow Catuai. This lot was mechanically harvested and naturally processed. He's a regular participant in our Futures project, but we also wanted to showcase this lot on its own. Elevation: 900-938 Meters Above Sea LevelVarietal: Mundo Novo, Catucai, CatuaiCup score: 83Price paid per kg: £7Process: Fully natural

Maria Helena Barbosa Brunelli (pictured above, right) is one of those people who both overflows with kindness and commands respect. Within seconds of meeting her, we were awed. She won two categories of the regional competition we attended in Brazil and was the picture of grace in victory. Maria Helena runs the farm herself after her husband's passing, and her background as a doctor informs her careful attention to detail and extra cleanliness in her working style. This lot of Paraiso varietal was dried on muslin cloths rather than straight on the patio itself. This led to a crisp, clean cup that is rare in Brazilian coffee, with beautiful notes of apricot, lemon, and camomile. We think Maria Helena is a future rockstar producer, and we hope to keep working with her for many years to come! Here's a bit more of Maria Helena's story in her own words: "We practically started a new story, with no family tradition as it usually happens in coffee farms. We acquired the farm, my husband and me, in 1989, knowing nothing of rural work and agriculture. The farm already had its milk phase, its beef cattle phase and, 13 or 14 years ago, we started with a little coffee area in an experimental fashion. Little by little, we expanded and professionalised not only the coffee cultivation, but also the farm management and we kept the beef cattle processes. We started to preserve the soil, the springs, and the streams that go through the property and the forest. We also planted several trees spread in the free circulation areas and created an orchard, a garden and a yard, making this little world our place of living." Elevation: 850 Meters above Sea LevelVarietal: ParaisoCup score: 85Price paid per kg: £11.59Process: Fully natural, cherries are sorted, then dried on muslin cloth

Stable Blend is Skylark's steady espresso-focused blend, adjusted seasonally while keeping the cup full, sweet, and rounded. Rich chocolate and cherry Bakewell notes give it depth for espresso, milk drinks, or filter.