Brazil
Mantiqueira de Minas
Claudia Roberta de Oliveira
Sítio Cachoeirinha
Red Catuai
Natural
June–September
Chocolate, Blackberry, Apple Juice, Yellow Plum
1275 meters
Rainforest Alliance, Certifica Minas
60 kg w/ GrainPro
SOLD OUT
Claudia Roberta de Oliveira grew up in a family of coffee producers, learning from a young age to care for coffee with great affection. Today, she operates Sítio Cachoeirinha alongside her husband Jeferson Moisés Júnior Silva. Their farming career together began with both of them working in the field every day because they had no money to pay any employees. The work was a family affair, even including Claudia’s mother to stir the harvested coffee. The following year of 2017 brought a hailstorm that destabilized the whole crop, producing another significant obstacle to the success of the young farm. Eventually Claudia decided to stay home to tend to coffee full time, and she’s seen great results ever since.
2019 yielded especially high-scoring coffees from a relatively small crop, giving the couple a feeling of happiness and success following their dedication through the challenges they had faced. Claudia also joined AMECAFÉ in 2019. “Joining the association was a game changer for us. We started paying attention to things we didn’t before and this has been making a big difference in our lives,” Claudia says.
Sítio Cachoeirinha rests 1200–1350 meters above sea level. All 5 hectares of the property are planted with coffee, including both Red and Yellow Catuai. 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. All coffee from the farm is processed using the Natural processing method.
This coffee was one of the top 10 entries in a competition held by AMECAFÉ Mantiqueira (The Association of Coffee Women Entrepreneurs in Serra da Mantiqueira) in October 2020. 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.
