Explore Brazil: June 2023

This month we break from our Brazilian Blend - Regional Blend - Microlot format to feature three special microlots from three of our longtime friends and partners: Ademilson Noiman, Alessandro Hervaz, e Augusto Borges.

THE BEGINNING OF A BEAUTIFUL RELATIONSHIP

The beautiful Mantiqueira mountains around São Gonçalo do Sapucaí

In 2013, the Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA) was concluding a multi-year study on linking coffee quality to terroirs within the Mantiqueira de Minas region. The study, which supported their Denomination of Origin, showed that the lands around a Fair-Trade certified association called APAS, the Associação dos Produtores do Alto da Serra, was propitious for high-quality coffee. We visited APAS shortly after the study, and three of its members, Ademilson, Alessandro, and Augusto, have since become great friends and partners (and quite well-known in Brazil for their amazing coffees!)

SELECTIVE HARVEST PROJECT

Sorting out all of the unripe coffee fruit.

In 2016 we worked with APAS growers on a selective harvest project. Brazilians face a “good problem” in that wages for picking the coffee are quite high compared to other origins. The cost of performing a selective harvest—picking only the ripe fruit and revisiting the same farm lot several times throughout the harvest—is not feasible since the cost of the harvest exceeds the price of the coffee. Casa Brasil Coffees guaranteed a high price for the coffee before the harvest so they could hire and train pickers to just pick ripe fruit. The results were incredible, a game changer for APAS that led to Ademilson, Alessandro, and Augusto winning many competitions, even helping to start a selective harvest trend in Brazil.

Meeting with growers from APAS to discuss the selective harvest project.

We are proud of our partnership with our friends and in bringing their coffees to you. We hope you enjoy!