Brazil
Cerrado Mineiro
Vinicius Wagner Ignotti
Fazenda Caixetas
Acauã
Natural
May–August
Caramel, White Chocolate, Mandarin
1050 meters
N/A
60 kg w/ GrainPro
SOLD OUT
The Ignotti family’s coffee history begins in 1986 when Lúcia Elisa Ignotti and her husband Ricardo Wagner Ignotti moved from Paraná to the city of Patrocínio, Minas Gerais. Lúcia’s father, Sebastião Almeida, encouraged the couple to move and gave them a small plot of land in the Chapadão de Ferro microregion where they would begin cultivating coffee. Eventually they saw the need and opportunity to expand their production, so they sold that first plot of land and purchased a larger farm in the same region where they continue coffee production today.
In 2016, the family’s operation underwent another expansion when they began renting Fazenda Caixetas in the city of Guimarânia, Minas Gerais. It was from this land, in their second harvest, that they would produce their first specialty coffee.
Today, the family’s business includes Lúcia and Ricardo’s son Vinicius Wagner Ignotti, who is the fourth generation of coffee producers in the family. Vinicius has a drive to produce excellent coffees in his home of Cerrado Mineiro, focusing on Natural processing for their coffees. Vinicius manages the coffee production alongside his father Ricardo, while his mother Lúcia manages the administration of the farms. The family’s legacy is now further cemented with the creation of the Ignotti Specialty Coffee Group, an operation on a continuous search to improve their production standards, valuing sustainability, and caring for the environment.
This lot of Acauã coffee underwent Natural processing. Acauã is a hybridization of Mundo Novo and Sarchimor varieties.
The Cerrado Mineiro region, located in northwest of Minas Gerais State, is a world-recognized, high-quality coffee producing origin and became the first Protected Geographical Indication in Brazil in 2005, with full Designation of Origin in 2013. A strong characteristic of this region is its well-defined seasons—a hot, wet summer followed by a pleasantly dry winter. The dry climate during harvest eliminates potential problems with humidity during the drying process.
Minas Gerais is Brazil’s principal agricultural state, and the Cerrado is home to many of the country’s celebrated coffee estates, with expertise in planting, harvesting, drying, and sorting. We love Cerrado coffees for their big body, rich chocolate notes, and velvety texture when pulled as espresso.
Today, the area’s 4,500 farmers produce a combined average of 6 million bags per harvest, with an average of 35 bags per hectare. To reach these production levels, producers had to first adapt to the region’s conditions. Coffee farmers first arrived in Cerrado in the 1970’s, after being pushed out of the state of Parana by frost and out of the state of Sao Paulo by nematodes. They found the soil in Cerrado to be very acidic, which they rectified with the application of calcium to create the healthy soils they enjoy today.
Cerrado coffee farms are cultivated in areas with elevations varying between 800 and 1,300 meters above sea level and are known for consistently producing high quality coffees with a repeatable profile. Independent of farm size, the spirit of professionalism is present throughout Cerrado’s coffee producers. Entrepreneurialism is part of farmers’ DNA, and many producers are second or third generation growers who also hold degrees in agronomic engineering, business management, and administration. While each family narrative is different, Cerrado is characterized by an enterprising attitude.
