About This Coffee
Fazenda Ondas da Mantiqueira was established in 1850 and witnessed the second half of the Empire of Brazil, a time of economic prosperity and political stability. The farm’s current owner, José Nicácio Itagyba de Oliveira, oversaw the farm’s conversion to organic production.
Organic production protects both the soil and the waterways passing through the farm. There are 7 mineral springs that crisscross the property. A university laboratory in Rio de Janeiro, PUC Rio de Janeiro, analyzed these springs and confirmed that the water is safe and uncontaminated.
De Oliveira’s principles of stewarding the environment also apply to treating employees well. He considers it his duty to see to the wellbeing of his employees. Employees live on the property in homes equipped with clean water and water heaters, and have space to keep organic gardens and raise chickens for additional food.
Cultivation
In addition to coffee, the farm also produces dairy, grains and bananas. The coffee fields sit at 1,100 to 1,400 meters above sea level, an excellent altitude for coffee production.
Thanks to this altitude, and the rich soils, the coffees produced on Ondas de Mantiqueira have a delicate fruity profile with an acidic profile rarely found in Brazilian coffees.
The plantation is divided in sixteen lots along these altitudes, with Mondo Novo, Acaia and Yellow Catuai grown throughout the farm.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Cherry is selectively handpicked so that only ripe cherry is harvested. The farm has complete processing infrastructure to produce both Fully washed and Natural coffees. The farm’s drying terraces are well marked to enable the utmost traceability.
Once harvested, cherry is spread to dry on drying terraces where it is turned frequently to promote even drying. If the weather is poor, drying may be finished in mechanical dryers.
Once dry, coffees are rested and then taken to the COCARIVE warehouses. COCARIVE takes care of grading, commercialization and export. COCARIVE gives support to its members in all parts of the production chain, with guidance on cultivation, machinery, storage and finally commercialization of the beans.
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.