Brasil Fazenda Sertâo

The history of Fazenda Sertâo is intertwined with that of the early stages of coffee cultivation in the Carmo de Minas region, State of Minas Gerais. José Isidro Pereira was born into a family of first generation coffee growers in the region and was raised by his mother, having lost his father when he was an infant. He originally left his birthplace to study dentistry, which he practiced for a couple of years, however fate was to intervene when, on the death of his mother, he inherited a piece of land that today is Fazenda Sertâo. This vital event led him to start his career as a coffee grower. Years later he married Nazareth, the love of his life and his lifelong companion. Together they worked to preserve the old coffee trees planted in the hills of the farm, treating them as a treasure, just as their descendants have always done. Today the fourth generation of coffee growers run the farm, and it is our great pleasure to roast and present their coffee.

At Fazenda Sertão, the coffee trees grow on slopes of up to 50 degrees. They have survived for many years, protected from the cyclical frosts that can often devastate Brazilian coffee. Preserving this legacy is an extraordinary achievement and, indeed, an almost romantic endeavour, considering the low density of trees per hectare and their height. These exceptionally large coffee trees have an extensive root system and must be placed far from each other so as not to compete for nutrients in the soil. In modern Brazilian coffee culture, trees are replaced every twenty years to control their height. This makes for an easier harvest since the maturation is homogeneous and highly concentrated in the branches, significantly saving the coffee grower in hours of work. These centenary trees, in addition to requiring a lot of care during the year, must be harvested with ladders to reach the cherries.