Sombra

Tastes like: Toffee In Milk, Dark Chocolate, Plum

Strength (Roast level - Light to Dark): 4

Process: Natural

Roast Profile: Medium

Origin: Brazil

Best if you:

✔ Drink flat whites / cappuccinos 

✔ Like full bodied chocolatey and fruity flavours

This Brazilian single-origin espresso is an exceptional coffee that embodies the spirit of Sombra, which translates to “shade” in Portuguese.

Sombra represents our agroforestry initiative, established by our pioneering farmer Mió and funded every time you drink this delicious coffee. By cultivating a vibrant forest ecosystem around water sources, our shade-grown coffee not only thrives but also fosters a haven for birdlife.

Get ready for a delicious coffee with hints of hazelnut, dark chocolate and touches of plum.  When combined with milk, this coffee develops a velvety toffee taste, making it an ideal choice for starting your day on a high note or savouring throughout the day.

We recommend pairing with: Sweet apple dessert 

Best brewing methods:

✔ Espresso machine: highlights sweetness and body

✔ Cafetiere: for a full, rich cup

How do I brew this coffee? Explore our brew guides to find the right method for you. 

We removed seals on our bags to reduce plastic in our packaging, to keep your coffee as fresh as possible you can use our convenient coffee clips or our stylish coffee tins. 

The Sombra Project

.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

Sombra (meaning ‘shade’ in Portuguese) is a five-year agroforestry project and the combined effort of three parties in Brazil:

• Professor Lucas Louzada – Universtity of Espirito Santos (Research)

• Fazenda MIO (private)

• Volcano Coffee Works (market)

This is how the project breaks down over time:

Stage One/Year One

1. Reforest all land which surrounds the natural water sources such as creeks, rivers, natural reservoirs, rivers etc. This is critical in order to establish and protect clean water systems

2. Plant all non-coffee trees on a systematic grid laid out by species, with proximity enough to allow for mechanised picking and drone application of fertilizer and allowing to achieve canopy stratification

Stage Two/Year Two

1. Plant all coffee trees once 12-month growth on canopy trees is achieved

2. Reforest all remaining land that surrounds coffee plants to complete a contiguous forest system

Stage Three/Year Three

1. Harvest and cultivation + full research phase. This is where the real research sets in regarding how to

a. Manage and scale harvest within the system

b. Analyse relationships between coffee and trees species and roots systems to further develop quality and yield protocols

c. Full sensory analysis over all variants of coffee species and tree species interaction

Stage 4/Year 4

Complete and publish data sets and create a farming template with commercial models to accredit the project as a legitimately recognised carbon-negative practice

Stage 5/Year 5

Implement Sombra methodology across the entirety of the remaining land. 

Learn more about the project here.

Sombra is a natural-processed coffee from Brazil roasted by Volcano Coffee Works. Produced by Mió, this Brazilian lot exemplifies the fuller body and fruit-forward character typical of naturally-processed coffees, delivering notes of toffee, dark chocolate, plum, and hazelnut. Natural processing—where beans ferment inside the fruit—tends to amplify sweetness and deeper fruit flavors compared to washed methods, making such coffees popular for those seeking richer, more indulgent profiles. The combination of plum's stone-fruit character with hazelnut and dark chocolate suggests a coffee that bridges fruit-driven and chocolate-forward dimensions, offering complexity across the flavor spectrum.