About This Coffee
José Adilson Borges inherited his love of coffee production from his father and grandfather. As the third generation of his family to cultivate coffee, José’s passion for coffee began early. Today, after nearly 50 years of working Sitio da Serra, the care he puts into his coffee is apparent in the delicious Anaerobic Naturals he produces. His coffees are well structured and complex with notes of berries and stone fruit.
Cultivation
This lot is Rubi, an unusual hybrid between Mundo Novo and Catuai that was developed by technicians at the Agronomic Institute of Campinas (IAC) and introduced to Minas Gerais in the 1970s. Today, the variety is not very widely grown. Under José’s care, this short, compact plant flourishes and produces a well-rounded and fruity coffee.
In addition to coffee, José also cultivates corn and beans.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
José selectively handpicks ripe, red cherry and processes it on his farm. He washes cherry in water to clean them and then places them in sealed plastic barrels to ferment anaerobically for 120 hours. Following fermentation, he washes cherry again in clean water and then places it in a static mechanical dryer where it will dry slowly at 45 degrees Celsius for about 15 days.
Coffee in Brazil
Just under 40% of all coffee in the world is produced in Brazil - around 3.7 million metric tons annually. With so much coffee produced, it’s no wonder that the country produces a wide range of qualities. Brazil produces everything from natural Robusta, to the neutral and mild Santos screen 17/18, to the distinctive Rio Minas 17/18. In recent years, Brazilian producers have also begun investing more heavily in specialty coffee production. Through our in-country partners in Brazil, including our sister company, we are able to provide a wide range of Brazilian coffees to our clients: from macrolot to microlot.
Today, the most prolific coffee growing regions of Brazil are Espirito Santo, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Bahia. Most Brazilian coffee is grown on large farms that are built and equipped for maximizing production output through mechanical harvesting and processing. The relatively flat landscape across many of Brazil’s coffee regions combined with high minimum wages has led most farms to opt for this type of mechanical harvesting over selective hand-picking.
In the past, mechanization meant that strip-picking was the norm; however, today’s mechanical harvesters are increasingly sensitive, meaning that farms can harvest only fully ripe cherries at each pass, which is good news for specialty-oriented producers.
In many cases and on less level sections of farms, a mixed form of ‘manual mechanized’ harvesting may be used, where ripe coffee is picked using a derriçadeira – a sort of mechanized rake that uses vibration to harvest ripe cherry. A tarp is spanned between coffee trees to capture the cherry as it falls.
With the aid of these newer, more selective technologies, there’s a growing number of farms who are increasingly concerned with – and able to deliver - cup quality.