Harvest has a way of revealing what the year was really about. Everything that happened in the paddocks since October — the dry stress, the flowering, the long months of fruit development — either worked or it didn't. You find out at cupping.
The 2025 season at Jack Murat was our best yet, and we say that carefully. We're not given to overselling. But the cup scores, the volume of quality lots, and the range of processing we were able to execute at scale all moved forward this year. Here's what happened.
The season
From May 2024 through June 2025, Mareeba was largely spared the major weather events that can derail a season — no significant flooding, no cyclone impact, nothing that forced us to react rather than plan. That stability is not something you can count on in Far North Queensland, and we're grateful for it.
A stable season doesn't mean an easy one. The trees need consistent attention regardless of the weather. This year we stayed close to our agronomy programme — soil monitoring, nutrition, irrigation management — and responded early when individual trees or blocks showed signs of stress. The payoff was even cherry development across the paddocks, which simplifies harvesting and improves quality in processing.
[Insert actual flowering dates and any specific weather notes from the 2025 season log here]
Harvest
Harvesting started [insert date] and wrapped up by [insert date]. Optical cherry sorting ran at full capacity from day one. The sorter separates cherries by colour — and therefore ripeness — before they enter the processing stream. This year we also ran more rigorous floating at intake, pulling out a higher percentage of low-density fruit than in previous seasons.
[Insert total volume harvested, comparison to prior year if available]
What we processed
Washed lots
Washed remains our primary focus. Fermentation times were adjusted batch by batch in response to ambient temperature and cherry condition. We ran controlled inoculant trials on selected batches — results from those experiments will feed into next year's protocol. Cup profile across our washed range: clean stone fruit, cane sugar sweetness, crisp structure with low bitterness.
Natural lots
The natural programme expanded this year. We ran both classic dried-in-fruit naturals and extended fermentation lots using different temperature and humidity parameters. The classic lots cup with dark stone fruit and brown sugar; the experimental lots are more complex — early tasting notes include some fermented tropical fruit character that we're assessing carefully. [Insert SCA scores for natural lots]
Honey lots
2025 was the first year we produced honey-process coffees at meaningful volume. Yellow and red honeys came off the drying beds in [insert month]. The yellows are bright and sweet with medium body; the reds are richer, with more mouthfeel. Both scored above 83 points in our internal cuppings.
The varietal experiments
A quiet development this season: the first cup results from our trial blocks of new varietals — Marsellesa, NR25, Paraiso, and IPR 107 — are in. These are early trees with limited fruit, but the initial results are interesting. [Insert honest summary of what you've tasted and what it suggests]. This research is being conducted with Griffith University and will take several more seasons to draw meaningful conclusions from. The core Catuai programme continues in parallel. We're expanding Catuai Rojo planting this October from seed taken from our existing trees — they've adapted to Mareeba conditions over a decade, and that matters.
The new paddock
We broke ground on a new paddock this season. [Insert details: size, location, what's being planted, expected first harvest year]. This represents a meaningful increase in our planted area and reflects confidence in both the market and the quality we're producing.
What's in the cup
Across the 2025 range:
• Washed: clean, bright, stone fruit, caramel sweetness, moderate acidity, smooth finish
• Natural: full body, dark fruit, brown sugar, syrupy texture
• Honey: balanced sweetness, stone fruit, medium-full body
• [Insert any standout lots with specific tasting notes from professional cupping]
[SCA scoring summary: percentage of lots above 80, 83, 85 points]
What we're taking into next season
Every harvest teaches you something. The things we're carrying forward:
• More rigorous pre-harvest moisture monitoring to dial in the optimal pick window
• Expanded inoculant programme for washed fermentation
• Greater investment in the natural drying infrastructure to handle larger volumes without compromising quality
• Continued varietal observation — we want two more full seasons of data before drawing conclusions
Coffees from the 2025 harvest are available in the shop. Each lot is labelled by process and batch. If you want to know more about a specific lot, get in touch.
