Fazenda Fortaleza - Brazil 2019 Verified listing

History of the farm

Alessandro has been in coffee since 1993 when his father bought the property in São Gonçalo do Sapucaí. Since then he has been learning to produce coffee at Fazenda Fortaleza where he lives and has 5 hectares of coffee. The producer works with familial agriculture and works with other producers focusing on producing high-quality coffees, mainly naturals. In 2013, they began to pulp their coffees. The coffees are dried on paved patios, African beds and greenhouses. The region has been gaining ground in specialty coffee production recently. Alessandro began using selective harvesting in 2016. At first it seemed impossible and unviable, as everyone said. But thanks to God, the quality of the selectively harvested coffees surprised them, resulting in notes and flavors they hadn’t imagined. Selective harvesting greatly elevated the quality of their coffees. The farm has been awarded at several quality competitions, including placing among the top 10 at Cup of Excellence in 2017 (7th) and 2018 (8th). In the past few years, they have learned to cup coffee, which has been very important to understanding their quality and the processes that contribute to it. Thus they have been able to stabilize and improve their quality. Last year they launched the Mantiqueira Treasures project, which has the objective of encouraging, producing and searching for high-quality coffees.

They also work with beekeeping and created the Honey & Coffee brand to represent this work on coffee farms. They are constantly working to improve the quality and variety of their products.

Alessandro is married and has two daughters, 8 and 15. He is teaching them about specialty coffee and hopes they will learn and like it and help him in the future.

Coffee processing system

This coffee was harvested selectively; only ripe cherries were picked. It was dried slowly on African beds in a greenhouse.

Certifications

Fair Trade CertificaMinas