Ethica Filter

About the Coffee

Cachoeira Farm has been in the Barbosa family for over a century. Danilo Barbosa's great-grandfather, Elias Barbosa, started it all, passing the farm down through four generations to Danilo, who now runs it alongside his sons Vítor Marcelo and Sergio Ricardo. The team is ten people total, including Danilo's wife and daughter-in-law. Their office is in Carmo do Paranaíba, in the state of Minas Gerais, at around 1,100 meters elevation in the Cerrado Mineiro region.

The Barbosa family grows Red Catuai, a variety well-suited to the Cerrado's climate. The region has a pronounced dry season with lower humidity and cooler temperatures, which slows the cherry's development and concentrates the sugars. The beans are processed naturally, meaning the whole cherry is dried with the fruit still on, which takes longer but adds body and depth to the final cup. A dedicated quality control team traces the coffee from the tree through to the warehouse.

The Cerrado Mineiro region sits on Brazil's central plateau, where the soil, topography, and reliable seasonal patterns make it one of the country's most consistent specialty coffee-producing areas. It was also the first Brazilian coffee region to receive a designation of origin, recognizing how distinct the growing conditions are there.

About Ethica Coffee Roasters

Ethica Coffee Roasters is based in Toronto, taking its name from Baruch Spinoza's philosophical work, Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata, a text about aligning your actions with reason and values. That idea carries through into how they source and roast: they prioritize knowing who grew the coffee and sharing that context with the people drinking it.

Their sourcing focuses on specialty-grade beans with full traceability, and they put real weight on the relationships behind the coffee, not just the cup quality. The Cachoeira filter is a good example of that approach: a single-farm coffee from a multigenerational family operation, processed in a way that reflects how the Barbosa family has refined their craft over decades.

"There is an Ethica coffee that stands out in my mind - a Washed Castillo from Wilton Benitez that had rosemary as a tasting note. Yes, rosemary. I remember looking at that tasting note in disbelief, and then experiencing about the same disbelief by how much I loved the rosemary flavour!"

- Dean, Director of Coffee