About This Coffee
Roberto started in coffee production several decades ago. Through dedication and hard work, his family acquired several small properties over the years. They currently produce around 1,800-2,000 bags per year and expect this number to continue growing in both quality and volume. They mainly use the natural and pulped natural methods and have consistently improved the quality year after year.
Acquired in 2009, Sitio Ipanema is one of the small properties they own. Located near the Tachos Region, a small district on the outskirts of Varginha, in the South of Minas, they have achieved excellent quality thanks to the favorable climate, altitude, and the care they put into preparing their coffee.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
After harvest, cherry is pulped. Parchment and remaining mucilage is then typically laid to dry in thin layers on patios. Parchment is carefully monitored and turned frequently to ensure even drying.
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.