About This Coffee
Elmiro Alves do Nascimento owns and operates Fazenda Santiago. Nascimento was previously mayor in Patos de Minas, where the farm is located.
In 2019, Nascimento was among the top three winners of the 28th Ernesto Illy Award for Sustainable Quality of Espresso Coffee in Brazil. Nascimento won from a pool of more than 40 producers. He called the win a win for the entire region of Alto Paranaíba. “These are new things in our region,” Nascimento said, “Cerrado coffee is emerging as the best coffee in Brazil. We have to be very proud.”
Cultivation
The altitude and volcanic soil in Brazil are prime conditions for growing the balanced, well-bodied coffees of Brazil. Wide, flat farms make mechanisation easier and allow for reduced production costs, making Brazil one of the few countries with consistently comfortable margins in the face of low world prices.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
There are a growing number of farms like Fazenda Santiago in Brazil that are focusing more on cup quality than volume. These farms approach growing, harvesting and processing with a great attention to detail.
The relatively flat landscape across many of Brazil’s coffee regions combined with high minimum wages has led most farms to opt for mechanical harvesting over selective hand-picking. In the past, this meant 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.
At Fazenda Santiago, ripe coffee is picked using a derricadeira – a sort of mechanised rake that uses vibration to harvest ripe cherry. A tarp is spanned between coffee trees to capture the cherry as it falls. Harvested cherries are then sorted and cleaned using sieves to remove unripe, overripe and damaged cherries along with dirt, soil, twigs and leaves, which can be picked out from the top of the sieve.
Most coffee in Brazil is produced using the Natural method. After harvesting and sorting, cherry is laid on concrete patios to dry. In the Cerrado Mineiro region, daytime temperatures can reach highs of 25 degrees Celsius. The evening and the morning can be very cold. Producers cover cherry with tarps during cold or rainy periods to protect them from the elements.
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.