Sitio São José is located in the Municipality of Carmo de Minas, in the south of Minas Gerais, at the Mantiqueira Mountain Range rim, at an altitude of 1,150 meters. The region is unique and excellent for the production of high quality beans and the best cups in Brazil. The farm's topography is mountainous and the climate is very good for coffee growing, with annual rainfalls averaging 1800 mm and temperature averaging 18º C.

Luiz Roberto grows his coffees always bearing in mind the sustainability and environmental preservation of the farm and the region. The farm has a protected native forest with many large vegetal species and wild animals.

Luiz is an APROCAM member, association that gives priority to improving the quality and commercialization of specialty coffees (www.aprocam.com.br), and a member of the COCARIVE Cooperative (www.cocarive.com.br).

Coffee processing system

Coffee is picked selectively when the fruit is already ripe. It is done manually on cloth, for the beans not to contact the soil. On the same day the beans are picked they are placed in burlap bags and transported to the processing area. Coffee is processed in the Sertão Group processing centers, where coffee is transferred as soon as it is picked. In those centers it is washed, pulped and dried on a terrace and using a drier, always following quality standards.

As soon as it arrives in the processing center, the coffee is washed, an operation that also separates the dry beans, and subsequently it goes through the cherry pulper, which in addition to pulping the cherry beans, also separate them from the green beans.

The cherry pulped beans are transported to the concrete terrace to dry. If needed, at the end of the drying phase, they are placed in a drier for final drying, until they reach their ideal humidity level. After the coffee is dry it is placed in wooden bins for at least 30 days, to rest and to homogenize the beans. When the coffee is removed from the bins, always separated in lots, they are ready for final processing and to be transported to the COCARIVE warehouses in Carmo de Minas, State of Minas Gerais.

Concern with quality

Since coffee production began, SITIO SÃO JOSÉ relies on the directions of Agronomists from Pró-Café and Cocarive. Priority is given to the continued search to improve the beans and the cup standards. All coffee lots are cupped and monitored year after year. The farm's option for specialty coffee products demands much attention and dedication from the producer. Traceability is indispensable not only to understand the property and the product but also to arrive at decisions as to when to replace a planting field and as to what coffee varieties to plant.