About This Coffee
Ademilson Noiman Borges can trace his family history at Sitio Grota Fria to the turn of the 20th century, when his great-grandfather owned the farm. The first coffee crops were planted in 1910. In 1988, Ademilson’s grandfather divided the land among his children, including Ademilson’s father, who continued to cultivate coffee and farm dairy cows. His father named that plot Sitio Grota Fria. In 1996, Ademilson leased part of the land from his aunt and planted his first crop of coffee, which was Mundo Novo.
In 2007, Ademilson’s father passed Sitio Grota Fria to him and Ademilson immediately applied for Certifica Minas certification, which certifies compliance with global trade regulations. Ademilson also set out to renew the trees on the land that had become old and unproductive, replanting with seedlings. Ademilson faced his father’s reluctance – his father produced coffee in traditional ways and believed that specialty coffee was time consuming and expensive to produce – in transitioning to specialty coffee but, with the help of the Associação dos Produtores do Alto da Serra (APAS), he was able to begin attending lectures and trainings to improve their crop.
Cultivation
His first harvest in 2013 scored 81.5 points. Now, his coffees are regularly scoring above 85 points. Since his first harvest, he’s focused on cultivation, post-harvest processing and quality control.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Unusually for Brazil, coffee is selectively hand harvested. Ripe, red cherry is laid in thin layers on patios to sun dry. Cherry is raked frequently to ensure even drying. It takes up to 17 days for cherry to dry.
About APAS
The Associação dos Produtores do Alto da Serra (APAS) was founded in 2006, to help producers organize in a collective way. Working together helps producers improve coffee quality, increase profitability and provide a better quality of life. In 2013, with help from SEBRAE and EMATER, the association achieved its Fairtrade certification, making it possible to reach many of their goals. In 2019, they started Alto da Serra Producers' Cooperative (APASCOFFEE) with the intention of streamlining the marketing process and exporting with an emphasis on specialty and certified coffee.
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.