Brazil
Mantiqueira de Minas
Jéssica Mara Fernandes Nogueira Pimentel
Sítio Cachoeirinha
Red Catuai
Fermented Natural
June–August
Dark Chocolate, Allspice, Pomelo
1250 meters
N/A
60 kg w/ GrainPro
UK - Bury St Edmunds - Vollers
Jéssica Mara Fernandes Nogueira Pimentel is a fourth generation coffee producer operating Sítio Cachoeirinha alongside her husband, Tiago, in the Cachoeirinha neighborhood of Lambari, Minas Gerais. The family’s coffee business began with Jéssica’s paternal great-grandfather, and after being passed to her grandfather and father she now carries on the profession with great pride and care.
Sítio Cachoeirinha is planted with 21,000 thousand coffee trees between 1200 and 1300 meters above sea level. Jéssica and Tiago do all of the work at the farm, committed both to their work and to making a good life for their family. “My biggest motivation is my family,” Jéssica says, “I am very happy and I feel blessed with my simple life within family coffee growing.”
This lot of Red Catuai coffee underwent Fermented Natural processing. Coffee cherries were placed into GrainPro and fermented in the shade for 100 hours prior to drying. The fermented cherries were then dried on a concrete patio for five days before being moved to a static dryer where they were dried to their optimal humidity.
This coffee was one of the top 6 entries in the Fermented 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.
