Located in the mountains of south Minas Gerais, in the municipality of Olímpio Noronha, State of Minas Gerais, Fazenda Santo Antônio belonged to Virgílio Dias Pereira, and later it was inherited by his descents.

In the part of the farm that now belongs to Aluízio Pereira de Castro and his wife, Júlia Maria Pereira de Castro, there was a great interest in continuing with the C. arabica plantations (Yellow Bourbon variety), which adapted to the land and developed fully because of the quality of the soil, the farm's altitude - 1,350m -, climate and location. With the benefit of all those factors, excellent quality coffees are being produced in the farm. Please check the results of the 6th Cup of Excellence Contest.

Coffee processing system

Part of the coffee produced in Fazenda Santo Antônio is processed by the wet pulped system. Due to its rough topography and high altitude, coffee is picked manually on cloth. The beans are then washed, pulped and immediately spread out on cemented terraces, where the beans are constantly revolved during the drying process, and finally the beans are placed in bins to rest for a good period of time.

Concern with quality

The owners are always looking for excellence in the quality of their coffees and invest continually in three areas:

1. Coffee Quality

The owners are concerned with the quality of their coffees from choosing and planting nursery trees, when type of coffee and plot where they will be planted are selected, to the soil quality, altitude, harvesting and drying techniques, which are essential to produce coffees that meet our demanding consumers' requirements.

The farm is technically assisted and supervised by an agronomist.

The coffee picked in the property is sent to the Cooperativa Regional dos Cafeicultores do Vale do Rio Verde - Cocarive [Regional Coffee Growers Cooperative of the Rio Verde Valley], in Carmo de Minas - State of Minas Gerais, where it is kept until sold.

2. Natural Resources Preservation

The farm has 30% of untouched native woods, with fully preserved water sources.

3.Concern with the Employees' Quality of Life

All the farm's employees are registered according to Brazilian labor and employment laws. They reside in large houses that belong to the farm, have TV sets, dish antennas, electric showers, fridges, stoves, etc. The houses have piped water, electricity and sewage.

Furthermore, they have social assistance, health care and schooling. There is a totally equipped school in the farm, with a dental office, multisport court with changing room, with rows of seats and benches and lighting, where they practice sports, train and take part in regional championships. In addition, they receive milk and coffee, and have an area to plant vegetables and fruit and to raise animals for their own consumption.

The owners do all they can to provide a good quality of life to their employees, and to encourage them to stay in the rural areas.