About This Coffee
Miguel Fonseca inherited his farm, Sitio Melado at a young age. Eager to travel, he rented out the farm and purchased a truck. He and his wife traveled as truck drivers for many years before deciding to settle down again on their farm.
When he returned to his farm in 2018, he found that the soil health was poor and the trees were not in good condition. So, he devoted several years to rejuvenating the soil and trees. Unfortunately, many of the trees needed to be cut down and replanted, but Miguel took the task in stride, dedicated to ensuring optimal soil and plant health. By 2021, he was delivering 84+ lots that are nuanced and flavorful with stone fruit, vanilla and caramelized sugar.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Cherry is selectively handpicked and dried on patios. All work on the farm is done manually by Miguel and his wife. Cherry is raked frequently to ensure even drying. It takes approximately 17 days for cherry to dry.
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.