About This Coffee
Rogerio Rodrigues Pereira acquired Fazenda Sitio do Cruz in the 1970s. He began as a dairy farmer but in 2010/2011, he decided to reduce dairy production and begin focusing on coffee production. Since then, he’s increased the area planted with coffee by 30% each year, until coffee constitutes a significant portion of the farm.
Cultivation
Rogerio employs agronomic engineers to help him determine the best input application and other cultivation techniques for his soil.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Coffee is picked manually with 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 and only ripe, red cherry is selected.
Once picked, cherry is laid on a concrete patio to sundry. Cherry is raked frequently to ensure even drying. Once the cherry has dried significantly, coffee is taken to mechanical dryers to finish drying evenly. Finally, cherry is rested in boxes for 15 days. In total, cherry takes about 30 days 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.