Overview

The Fazenda Recreio, which was a finalist and also the winner of other “Cup of Excellence” awards in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2008, once again proves that this is a special region for the production of high quality coffees, considered as Gourmet.

Located in the city of São Sebastião da Grama – SP, in the region known as Vale da Grama, Fazenda Recreio demonstrates excellent characteristics for quality coffee production. fertile soils, mild climate, altitude varying from 3,444 to 4,265 feet and good sun exposure make the perfect environment for the development of coffee crops.

Fazenda Recreio has been in the family for five generations, since 1890, and this year they made their 116th harvest in honor of Homero Teixeira de Macedo Júnior and Maria Dias Teixeira de Macedo. The property is administered by Eng. Agrônomo Diogo Dias Teixeira de Macedo, son of the owners, who has worked since 2000 on the property, where he learned a great deal about coffee production from his grandfather.

Due to the topography of the region, the harvest is done by hand and, for that end, the farm has 68 houses with all of the necessary infrastructure for the comfort of the workers. It promotes sports and culture, with a soccer field, a church, a health center and a computer classroom for the workers’ children. There are 75 fixed employees and 60 temporary workers that are hired for the coffee harvest.

The owners’ concern with respect to the environment is visible. The farm has a wide area of environmental interest, with native woods and beautiful flora and fauna. With regards to this, a program of revitalization of native rivers and their margins is being conducted. The employees and their families are having classes on environmental preservation and the concepts of sustainability.

Coffee bean processing system

The harvest is done by hand, over cloth, and it starts in May, when the fruit shows good maturation and a small percentage of green berries. The drying process is a wet process, performing as pulped natural, in which the ripe fruit is separated from the rest and pulped mechanically. The harvested coffee is washed, separated, pulped and spread on the same day on the patio, where it remains until it reaches an average humidity of 20%. Then it can go to the dryer.

The coffee remains in the dryer until it reaches 11% humidity. Then, it is taken to the storehouses to rest and to make the drying homogenous. The coffee beans remain there for at least 30 days and then they go to processing.

Each coffee produced on the Fazenda Recreio is tracked, from the harvest to the loading and storage in the warehouses. This care guarantees the quality and the origin of the coffee produced. Then it is labeled as Recreio Estate Coffee.

Quality concerns

Quality is the main focus of the farm, and, for this purpose, courses about crop management, the application of pesticides, post-harvest processing and the cleaning of the tools and machinery are given, always trying to avoid the exposure of the recent harvested coffee beans to any source of contamination.

To guarantee and to prove origin, Fazenda Recreio underwent the certification process in conformity with the UTZ Certified Code of Conduct, which is a set of economic, social and environmental criterion for the responsible production of international level coffee.

The production of special coffee by Fazenda Recreio is already known abroad: Fazenda Recreio is the winner of the “Cup of Excellence 2004”, and the second place winner of the “Cup of Excellence 2008”, twice winner of the State of São Paulo Coffee Quality Contest in 2005 and 2008 and finalist in many other quality contests. This demonstrates that the farm is concerned with maintaining the pattern of quality, always innovating and improving the techniques used in the planting, harvest and post-harvest of the fruit.