Single Origin | Brazil - Cerrado Mineiro

Ripe and raisin cherries were mechanically harvested, sent to the washing station on the farm by tractors and were cleaned and separated by density (ripe to one side, raisin to the other). They were dried in the sun on cement patios, and then drying was completed in mechanical driers, to ensure a more even result. After drying, they rested in wooden boxes for 30-plus days before being hulled and then sent to a nearby warehouse.After the green beans are ordered, the coffee was reprocessed (sorted by screens and with color and density machines) and sealed in the container, and make sure every step was taken to reduce exposure to contaminants.

The 36 producers are members of the Cooperativa Multiactiva de Cafeteros Garzón Dorado, an association formed in 2011. Today it has 142 members from five villages in Garzón.All smallholders, these producers farm approximately 1.5 hectares (3.7 acres) of coffee each. They’re very aware of the potential in their land to produce great quality, and so they’re meticulous in their agricultural practices.

Cerrado is the newest coffee region in Brazil. It was shaped by two important events. In 1975, the “black frost” devastated plantations in Parana (at the time, the largest coffee-producing region in Brazil at that time). At the same time, in western São Paulo, coffee plantations were struggling against an intense nematodes infestation. These two events brought Brazil’s coffee industry to its knees.Farmers set out in search of new areas to develop and arrived in Cerrado — an underdeveloped area with poor, acidic soil — just as a government effort was underway to understand the science of Cerrado’s soil and whether it might someday be a major food producer. Simple, inexpensive solutions wound up being effective, and coffee plants adapted well to Cerrado’s well-defined climate. Its warm temperatures, intense sunlight and dry winters aligned perfectly with the harvest, which demands dry weather. Today, coffee is grown here in 55 towns and across 210,000 hectares.

• Region: Cerrado Mineiro

• Altitude: 1,200 meters ASL

• Varieties: Mundo Novo, Catuai Red and Yellow, Topazio, Catucai, Acaia

• Processing: Natural

• Harvest: July - September