Dulce Borges – APAS Coffee Roaster

For those that have had the chance to catch a glimpse (or a sip) of the Associção dos Produtores do Alto da Serra, or APAS, hopefully you have seen the incredible spirit of this small community of coffee growers in the hills outside of São Gonçãlo do Sapucaí, Minas Gerais. Dulce Borges is a member of the association and embodies a lot of what we love about working with them (apart from their incredible Brazilian coffees, of course).

Dulce and several other members of the APAS community suffer from retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited, degenerative eye disease that is incurable. Despite this impairment, Dulce roasts the coffee for the association by hand and sells it throughout the region. Dulce and her husband, Jose Borges, are one of the families from whom we source for our Familia Borges Blend. I had a chance to talk with Dulce and José on a recent visit to APAS, and recorded this video of her explaining how she roasts the coffee.

BTW – Dulce is also an award-winning coffee grower. The photo below is from a visit I made to APAS in January of 2014. Dulce and her husband José were showing me their trophies from coffee competitions.