Expocaccer
During our visit in June ’19 we were invited to visit one of the bigger cooperatives in the coffee region Cerrado Mineiro. Located in the city of Patrocinio, the cooperative Expocaccer is in the hart of coffee production in the State of Minas Gerais. The organization provides necessary services, such as commercialization, processing and export for nearby coffee farms. Some farms can produce more than 10.000 bags, with 320 bags per container, that is a lot of coffee! One of our objectives during the trip was to check out export warehouses to avoid issues with dust. This can definitely happen, with both commercial and specialty coffee being processed next to each other. The cooperative showed a professional warehouse with separate production lines, but also a beautiful café and even better cupping room. This year we are piloting the QR code traceability system offered by the Cerrado Mineiro growers organization. Check it out:
QR link: http://intranet.cerradomineiro.org/trace/index.php/trace/verde/cod/7898328781578666611
When we walked into the cupping room we found a crazy amount of cups on the table, with an ongoing harvest from May to Juli, this was an excellent moment to see what flavours could be found. The table showed both the traditional side with heavy body, dark chocolate and nutty cupping notes, from which we selected our Cerrado Gold lot, but also some remarkable fruity and spicy notes found in smaller micro lots. I would recommend every coffee buyer/lover to one day take part in these type of cupping sessions. You pass by coffees in such speed, that you really learn how to score Brazilians. Always follow the main cupper to get calibrated!
Fazenda 5 Estrelas
Ricardo dos Santos Bartholo is a well known member of Expocaccer, and current president of the Cooperative. After chasing different careers in management, and almost as civil engineer, Ricardo stuck with farming, growing coffee as passion. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, but when he was very young he moved to Lençóis Paulistas in São Paulo. He started out with a small family farm together with his wife Júlia and raised his two children, Marcelo and Gustavo. In a later stage he decided to invest in coffee production. He fell in love with the Cerrado Mineiro, moving permanently to Patrocínio in 1995 and chasing his dream of as farmer with his farm 5 Estrelas “Five Stars”. Bartholo is well known in the local community, fulfilling a leadership position, Today, Fazenda Cinco Estrelas has the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ Certifications, in addition to being a pioneer in the Carbon Credit Sale program approved by the UN.
Meet your Grower: Scan QR Code for Fazenda Catanduva
This year we are piloting the use of QR code traceability that is organized by the Cerrado Region’s coffee organization. We bought a small lot from Alfredo Nakao’s farm Catanduva to test out the traceability system offered through Expocaccer. Have a look!
http://intranet.cerradomineiro.org/trace/index.php/trace/verde/cod/7898328781578666611
The link shows independent cupping scores (which we can confirm internally), cup profile, the characteristics and off course information from the farm itself. What do you think? Let us know if this is somehing for your coffees?