About This Coffee
Rubens Machado Jr purchased Fazenda Santo Antonio and Fazenda Sao Jorge with his father in the mid-2010s. They believe that producing environmentally sustainable, high quality coffee is the key to name recognition and greater financial stability.
The father and son duo have already made great strides in improving their lands. They plan to continue making improvements and eventually pass the farm on to Rubens’ own children.
Cultivation
Although Rubens and his father chose to buy land in Cerrado because of the region’s long history of quality coffee production, the land they purchased was not considered ideal for coffee growing. Thanks to their hard work and dedication to sustainable practices, their farms produces consistently high yields every year.
Today, Rubens cultivates Arara, Topazio, IPR100, IBC12 and 24/137 varieties. He believes that maintaining the ideal balance of nutrients in the soil is the key to reducing the need for artificial chemical inputs.
Brazil Harvest & Post-Harvest
Most Brazilian coffee is grown on huge farms, built and equipped for mechanical harvesting and processing that are designed to maximize productivity. 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, this mechanization meant that strip-picking was the norm. However, today’s mechanical harvesters are increasingly sensitive, meaning that farms can selectively harvest only fully ripe cherries at each pass. This is great 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. The derricadeira – a sort of mechanized rake that uses vibration to harvest ripe cherry - can be used to selectively pick ripe cherry more quickly and cost-effectively than individual hand pickers. 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 that are increasingly concerned with – and able to deliver - cup quality.
After harvest, cherry is typically laid to dry in thin layers on patios. Under direct sunlight, cherry is carefully monitored and turned frequently.
Topazio
Topázio (also Topacio) was bred in Brazil the 1960s by the Agronomic Institute of Campinas (IAC). The variety is a cross between Mundo Novo and Red Catuaí. That offspring is then crossed again with Catuaí. The resulting plant is short with high reproductive capacity and a long lifecycle. Its cherry is yellow with good uniformity.
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.