Brazil Jaguara Minas Gerais

Description

In the past we did not work much in Brazil; it is a country that is well covered for supply in most markets. It was only when we met Natalia and began to discuss her family’s farm, and the work her husband Andre is doing as an agronomist, that we found an opportunity to work with people and, to work in a way that we felt could be interesting and could add value to producers and our customers.

Jaguara farm had its beginning from a trio of friends (Antonio Wander, Rubem Carlos and Rubem Murilo).They planted the first coffee trees in 2001 in the Campo das Vertentes region. The name of the farm is due to an important Quilombola community surrounding the farm, named Jaguara. The farm now belongs to Andre Luiz Garcia, his wife, Natalia Moreira and their son Benicio Garcia. Who bought the farm from the previous owners, Andre and Natalia work together to develop the farm, supporting each other with their strengths in different areas of coffee production.

André is an agronomist, and researcher at Procafé Foundation specializing in pruning and producing coffees. The farm is situated next to Sao Joao del Rei, a very important historic town in the colonization of Brazil and famous due to the gold mining and have historically not had the tradition of coffee production. With a predominance of mountains at high altitudes (for being Brazil) the coffee trees have adapted very well.

The soil type on the farm is red/yellow, volcanic with medium texture typical of the savanna region. They are growing Acaia, Yellow Catuai, Yellow Catucai and Mundo Novo. Andre’s work with Procafe gives him good insight into varieties and how they can be grown on his own farm. They are only processing coffee as Naturals, but are young and adventurous with experimenting within this realm of processing.