Brazil
Mantiqueira de Minas
Talita Iris Martins dos Santos
Sítio Bela Vista
Yellow Catuai
Fermented Natural
June–July
Dark Chocolate, Plum, Red Apple, Watermelon
1025 meters
N/A
60 kg w/ GrainPro
SOLD OUT
Talita Iris Martins dos Santos began farming coffee after meeting her husband Donato Adriano Marques da Silva. Together, they purchased Sítio Bela Vista in the city of Lambari, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The property totals 6.5 hectares, 4 of which are planted with Catucaí, Catuai, and Mundo Novo varieties.
The couple faced challenges early on, including lack of resources and an unstable market for their crop. However, they’ve found that with great effort they were able to overcome the adversity and ultimately sustain their operation. They now have two young children, to whom they strive to set an example of hard work and love for what they do.
This lot of Yellow Catuai coffee underwent Fermented Natural processing. Freshly harvested cherries were first washed before being fermented in canvas with temperature and pH controls for 90 hours. The fermented cherries were then dried on a concrete patio to reach their optimal humidity. Catuai was developed by the Instituto Agronomico (IAC) of Sao Paulo State in Campinas, Brazil by crossing Mundo Novo and Caturra varieties. Catuai coffees are cultivated widely across Brazil, and are known for their high productivity potential.
This coffee was one of the top 6 entries in the Fermented Coffee category of a competition held by AMECAFÉ Mantiqueira (The Association of Coffee Women Entrepreneurs in Serra da Mantiqueira) in October 2022. The association was founded in 2017 and now includes 130 producers, providing professional development and other events for women producers in the region.
Located on the northern side of the Serra da Mantiqueira mountain range in the southern part of the state of Minas Gerais, the Mantiqueira de Minas region is a demarcated area of 25 municipalities. It is officially recognized as an Indication of Origin for its tradition and worldwide reputation of producing coffees with unique sensory profiles.
Most producers in the region are smallholders who operate family farms. The region is differentiated by the unique terrain and the resulting characteristics that the terroir leads to in the cup. Coffees from Mantiqueira de Minas reflect both the place itself and the committed work of its producers. Mantiqueira includes more than 8,200 producers, 82% of whom are smallholders, and 56,000 hectares of mountain land planted with coffee. Most harvesting is still completed manually, and this and other practices keep the regional cultural heritage of coffee farming alive while at the same time pursuing new flavors.
