People
Located in the Cerrado Mineiro region, a well-geared region towards coffee production, Fazenda Chapadão is the farm destined to grow coffee. Fazenda Chapadão belongs to the family of two brothers Gustavo and Rodrigo Andrade. Their great grandparents gave birth to the farm, however, it was Gustavo and Rodrigo who turned fate around.
In 1989, Gustavo’s parents took over the land, built their current home and started farming. Due to low market price and lack of knowledge for speciality coffee production, it was difficult for the Andrade Family to grow good quality coffee and make a business out of it. Gustavo knew Fazenda Chapadão was destined to grow coffee.
In order to earn a better income and sustain the family, his father raised cattle at Fazenda Chapadão. As a result, coffee production persisted as a low focus business.
However, raising cattle was not the life that Gustavo wanted for his family. Also, because of the hilly terrain, cattle and milk production were not the best options. That’s when Gustavo encouraged his family to exchange cattle for coffee.
“Let’s do something that gives us a better life”. – Gustavo Andrade talking to his father
Gustavo has been in touch with The Coffee Quest even prior to our partnership. After discovering our social accounts, Gustavo connected with us due to our shared values. Fazenda Chapadão was still in its early stage of specialty production back then, but we kept in touch until the farm was ready for its first exported lot.
Fazenda Chapadão dedicated their production to a wide range of varieties, such as Red Catuaí, Yellow Catuaí, Catiguá, Topázio, and Yellow Bourbon. In 2021, The Coffee Quest started our partnership with Gustavo and Rodrigo Andrade for the first time with one lot of Catiguá and Topázio.
Sitting on an altitude from 1200 to 1215 m.a.s.l, Fazenda Chapadão commercializes only specialty coffee. Currently, the farm produces mainly Naturals, but the family is starting with Honey fermentation as well. All lots are 100% mechanized harvest.
Gustavo and his family are farmers with a strong passion. They set a firm goal to move out of the commodity range and gain recognition for their coffee beans in the specialty sector. From there, Gustavo and his brother focus on education to broaden their knowledge through courses on tasting, roasting and grading. As a result, the quality is improving!
Price
The coffee market presents a real challenge for starting farmers such as Gustavo’s family when it comes to coffee prices. He shared with us: “we picked the coffee today, but we don’t know how much we’re going to sell it for. We don’t know what we’ll get in return.”
Most of the time, it is the same story: Gustavo takes their coffee to the cooperative, and earns recognition for the coffee quality. However, he only receives standard price, which undervalues their effort of the beans. By offering a fair price, The Coffee Quest strives towards helping farmers like Gustavo earn the income they deserve while encouraging them to produce the best beans. Fazenda Chapadão became our partner based on this common value.
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Planet
Gustavo shows a strong will to do his part for the planet, as a coffee farmer. Currently, around 49% of Fazenda Chapadão is a preserved area. Gustavo and his family members are putting extra effort to expand this region. In addition, Gustavo believes that sustainable farming activities are essential. To preserve the rainforest, and the environment, it needs to become the basics.
“As much as possible that we can do to preserve the environment today, we do. And each year we plant a little more. We always have to protect the natural source, don’t we?” – Gustavo Andrade
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