Fazenda Santa Cruz, Brazil | ESPRESSO

Details:

The South of Minas is quite well known for coffee production in Brazil, thanks to its flat terrain, rich soils, and delicate temperatures. It is here, in the town of Varginha, where Fazenda Santa Cruz is situated. The farm was acquired by the young couple, Guilherme and Karyna Rabelo in the 2020s, and they have truly found a way to grow some excellent coffee. They maintain an expansive farm, with 20% dedicated to preserved native forest. To efficiently run the farm, the team at Fazenda Santa Cruz have initiated various practices to ensure high quality coffee is grown here. Soil health is regularly monitored, to understand soil nutrient levels and ph. Nutrient management techniques are utilized to maintain long-term soil health. Additionally, thanks to efficient irrigation systems, and various water conservation practices, the team at Fazenda Santa Cruz are better able to deal with times of drought. A structured pruning schedule is also used to carefully maintain the coffee trees with practices such as skeleton pruning, performed every 4 -5 years, stumping, topping to control tree height, and suckering to remove unproductive shoots. During the harvest, once the cherries reach peak ripeness, they are handpicked and delivered to the mill via trucks onsite. They are then sorted to remove any cherries that may not be the ideal ripeness. Within 12 – 24 hours of harvest, the cherries are usually de-pulped with a machine to remove the external fruit skin. Roughly 5 – 10% of the sticky mucilage is left on the bean. The coffee is then spread in even layers on patios to dry in the open sun for 7 – 14 days, depending on the weather. Once the moisture content reaches 10 – 12%, the beans are gathered to be bagged and rested prior to being hulled and prepared for export. This coffee was sourced with assistance from our partner in Brazil, EISA, who began working with Fazenda Santa Cruz in 2021.