Sítio Dois Irmãos Natural

Antônio José de Vilas Boas purchased Sítio Dois Irmãos in 2000. Originally a tomato farmer, Antônio began by tending the coffee trees already on the farm and growing tomatoes.

At first, everything was done manually by the family. As Antonio kept planting coffee, the increase in yield led him to also focus on quality processing. In 2004, they built the first patio to ensure optimal drying conditions. In 2011, their harvest was big enough to enable them to invest more in their coffee farm and they planted even more coffee.

In 2013, they began working with COCARIVE and discovered that their coffees had the potential to be superb. The next year, they modified their management strategy to focus on high-quality processing.

Now run by Antônio’s two children, Allan and Allex, Sítio Dois Irmãos is producing high-quality Naturals that delight us with their sweet and fruity profile. This coffee is creamy and nuanced with stone fruit and florals.

Sítio Dois Irmãos sits at the foot of the Serra da Pedra Branca, a mountain range and tourist site in Minas Gerais. The farm sits at good altitudes with an average of 1,300 meters above sea level.

With help from COCARIVE, the Vilas Boas family observes Good Agricultural Practices to preserve and nurture their coffee trees. They prune regularly and use cuttings to fertilize the soil. They use organic fertilizers and focus on fostering sustainability across the supply chain.

Most Brazilian coffee is grown on huge farms, built and equipped for mechanical harvesting and processing that are designed to maximize productivity. 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, this mechanization meant that strip-picking was the norm. However, today’s mechanical harvesters are increasingly sensitive, meaning that farms can selectively harvest only fully ripe cherries at each pass. This is great 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. The derricadeira  – a sort of mechanized rake that uses vibration to harvest ripe cherry - can be used to selectively pick ripe cherry more quickly and cost-effectively than individual hand pickers. 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 that are increasingly concerned with – and able to deliver - cup quality.    

After harvest, cherry is typically laid to dry in thin layers on patios. Under direct sunlight, cherry is carefully monitored and turned frequently. 

Sucafina has partnered with COCARIVE since 2015. 

COCARIVE gives support to its members in all parts of the production chain. Their team of agronomists and technical experts assists with cultivation techniques, machinery, storage and finally commercialization of the beans.

Once parchment is dry, cooperative members send their coffee to the COCARIVE warehouses. The cooperative takes care of grading, commercialization and export. They have their own quality lab and storage and milling facilities in Carmo de Minas.

At the dry mill, where they prepare the coffee for export, COCARIVE has its own laboratory for quality control. Their team of trained cuppers and Q graders makes the first selection based on cup quality. They will verify which lots are suitable and of high enough cup quality for specialty microlots. Their quality control team checks the quality of every lot at a variety of times throughout the dry milling process analyzing both physical green and cup characteristics.

All COCARIVE member farms have the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) certificate. On top of that, they are all certified by the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA). This certificate is a guarantee from BSCA that every aspect of labor at the farm is legal. It also guarantees the implementation of environmentally friendly practices on the farm during all steps of the coffee production process.