About This Coffee
Coffee is in Arantes Jr’s family and in his blood. His father first arrived in Ilicinea in Sul de Minas as an agricultural extension worker with Paraná’s agricultural service, Emater. Finding his love for coffee farming, he planted his first crop on 1 hectares of land the year Arantes Jr was born.
Arantes Jr. grew up surrounded by coffee farming, and, after graduating with a degree in chemical engineering, he began his own coffee farm in Serra Nova. Arantes Jr. describes the area as “an environment where coffee and [a] simple life are predominant.”
Today, Arantes Jr. farms 12 hectares of coffee and produces a superb natural that we’re excited to share with you. His farm’s name, Serra de Pedra, means ‘Stone Saw’ in Portuguese. Perhaps this is because of the perfect location it has carved out high in the hills at 1,110 metres above sea level near the town of Ilicínea in Sul de Minas.
Cultivation
Arantes Jr. invests a significant amount of time on soil fertility at Serra de Pedra. He conducts a soil analysis once every year and does a leaf analysis 2-3 times per year. He also applies a nitrogen-, potassium- or phosphorus-based fertiliser three times per year. He checks the soil content monthly for missing micronutrients and supplements any missing nutrients by adding foliar fertiliser (applied directly to the leaves of the plant).
The farm grows Mundo Novo, Catuai and Topázio trees. Mundo Novo and Catuai have been the traditional varietals in the region, and Topázio is a more recent addition to farms in the area but has adapted well to the conditions. There are also several varieties currently being introduced to the region. These include Catigua, Arara and Paraiso.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Cherry is picked by hand, as the rocky soil on the farm makes navigating machines across the farm difficult. Due to the high cost of labour in Brazil, hiring workers to pick cherry greatly increases the cost of production for Arantes Jr. Throughout the process, lots are kept separate by variety and by day picked.
After harvest, the coffee is carefully sorted to remove underripe and damaged cherries. Ripe cherry is then washed and laid to dry on patios. Cherry is spread in a thin layer and turned every 15-30 minutes to ensure even drying. Drying cherry is covered with waterproof tarps during rain to protect the cherry from additional moisture. Near the end of the drying process, the humidity level of the cherry is checked to ensure drying it is halted at the optimal time. Depending on the weather, cherry typically takes between 7 to 12 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.