To say that Brazil is a country of contrasts is probably a bit of an understatement but it is the only way I have been able to convey my experiences there. With a land mass of 8,514,877 sq. km and a population of 203,429,773, coming from New Zealand to this place was always going to be eye opening. From people sleeping on the side of the road to the ever-rising skyline of Sao Paulo to the truly vast expanses of the coffee regions we visited, we certainly were provided with an experience, and this all in only one of the twenty-six states that make up this South American powerhouse.
Brazil is booming at the moment and the government seems committed to closing the poverty gap by using its new found prosperity to raise the living standards of the twenty-six percent of the population living below the poverty line. With three percent unemployment there is strong competition from other sectors for skilled labour and this represents a new issue in the cost of producing coffee. In the case of Carmo and FAF, where harvesting is all done by hand, even finding good coffee pickers is difficult. Labour laws in Brazil are sound and the workers that pick the coffee have housing and cost of living allowances based minimum wages. These are set to rise alongside the Brazilian economy, with the government committed to annual increases.
Our first stop on the tour of Minas Gerais State was Carmo Estate Coffees; located in Carmo de Minas about 4 hours drive from Sao Paulo, or 3 1/2 if Beniho, our driver, is behind the wheel. Driving with little heed to speed limits and lane markings seemed to be a national passion for most Brazilians. Carmo de Minas is a micro region known for producing some of the best coffee in Brazil and this was abundantly evident from the coffees that we cupped with Jacques and the team there. They work with partner estates throughout the region to produce special blended lots and distinct micro lots. During our visit there we toured some of the farms and had a good look at the scale and scope of what they do. Due to the terrain and desire for premium quality, all of Carmo’s coffee is 100% hand-picked. Over the last 8 years this drive for quality has lead to a shift in the volumes of high quality coffee that have been produced and sold by Carmo. This year 75% of the production was classed as 80+ specialty-grade, compared to just 3% 8 years ago. This was also reflected in the some of the changes that Jacques has seen in the use of the land that his family runs, as they are also well known for their beef farming. On the walls of the family farmhouse awards for both coffee and cattle sit side by side and of the 600 ha they run only 20% is planted in coffee. That 20% represents 80% of the total income, however, with the beef making up the rest.
We cupped many of the new crop coffees and some of the micro lots they had selected for the first Carmo Estate auction; a new venture with the goal of presenting the best coffees of Carmo that year. Our visit to Carmo happened to coincide with a research project that is being carried out by a team from Lavras University. They are establishing a denomination of origin project for Carmo de Minas, identifying its unique coffees. The research cupping that we took part in was an intriguing insight in to what Brazil has to offer. Each table was mixture of varietals, elevations, micro climates, sunlight, and soil conditions. Each lot was lovingly hand picked and processed by the students carrying out the research and this meant that there were practically zero defects. There were some exciting coffees found during the 2 and half days of cupping that we got to take part in. My view and expectation of what Brazilian coffee tastes like was redefined here, with crisp lemon acidities, complex fruit profiles, and creamy mouthfeel abundant.
Leaving Carmo and São Lourenço, the small resort town where we had been staying, we headed off towards Mococa to meet with Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza, better known as FAF. Traveling through the Brazilian countryside you become aware of how truly vast this country is. Rolling hills, steep mountains, and vast plains stretch on into the horizon in every direction. FAF is a small, family-run operation that partners with select farmers in the surrounding region to produce sustainably grown and quality-focused coffees. The time that we spent at FAF was an engaging experience. I learnt a lot from Marcos, Philipe, and the team about the various challenges faced in growing coffee in the quality model as opposed to the quantity model that accounts for the majority of Brazil’s exports. Trying to convince people that they weren’t crazy communists and that working collaboratively was really the only way that they were going to be able to compete with the “big guys” was a reoccurring theme for them. Protecting the environment and fostering wildlife habitat is key for FAF and their partner farms, with the protection of water sources and elimination of toxic chemicals from the production chain a requirement for anyone wanting to work with them. We spent much of the time at FAF in the cupping lab assessing many of the new crop coffees, discovering the various flavour profiles they produce, and discussing how this is achieved. FAF produces a number of different coffees, which are either singled out and sold as micro lots under the FAF label, or carefully blended to create larger lots and sold through the Bobolink brand. We have just fixed our very first container of Bobolink and are excited to start a new relationship with FAF. Not only is it a great coffee but also it comes from a group of people who share a similar vision of what coffee can and should be about.
The tail end of the trip was spent in Espírito Santo do Pinhal with Guto from Authentico coffees, a branch of the larger Sumatra Cafe Brasil group. We have bought the Moreninha Formosa coffee from them through our brokers, Zephyr, for a few years now. If what we had just seen at FAF comprises one end of the Brazilian coffee spectrum then Sumatra is at the other, with operations covering all aspects of the coffee business in Brazil i.e. large warehouses and milling facilities regularly exporting 40,000 bags per month, roasting and retailing coffee to supply the domestic market, 1500 ha of coffee under management and a peak employment of 500 people during the harvest period. Guto showed us around two of the farms they have in Minas -São Joãozinho and Fazenda São José da Pedra Grande- both of which are large-scale operations with a mix of mechanical and manual harvesting due to the varied terrain. We also visited one of their big processing facilities in Pocos de Caldias which was vast and had capacity to hold 500,000 bags of coffee. It was pretty much all computer-controlled with one guy overseeing the entire facility from a control room.
We stayed at Fazenda São Joãozinho, which was just down the road from the offices and is also where the boss lives. He was away on business while we were there as he is also the president of ABECAFE the Brazilian Association of Coffee Exporters. It was kind of surreal rattling around his multi-roomed mansion but also kind of fun to play millionaire.
The differences between what we had seen at FAF and the vastness of the Sumatra operation in a way recapitulates my experience in Brazil and leaves me with just a taste of things to come.
