Region :              Cerrado
Altitude :            1,050–1,250 masl
Process :             Pulped Natural
Variety :              Mixed
Grade:                   Sc.17/18
Q Score :              84.25

Juicy acidity, sweet and coating. White grapes, milk chocolate and a lot of brown sugar.
Super clean and balanced.

ABOUT

The Miaki family stated working as coffee farmers in Cerrado in 1980, being the very first in the region known as Chapadão de Ferro (Iron Plateau), a volcanic area in the city of Patrocínio. Specifically chosen for its characteristic rich soil & access to a plentiful water supply.

Patrocínio city is located in Cerrado Mineiro area (Savannah), the main characteristics being a flat land base with well defined weather conditions, with a dry & cold winter coupled with rainy and warm summers. Chapadão de Ferro is similar to Mount Conner in Australia, a Plateau in the middle of a flat landscape. Some says it´s an extinct Volcano, the soil is rich in Minerals, especially Iron & Titanium. With altitudes reaching 1.400 msl or 4,242 feet high, the temperature can be 3C to 4C lower than others regions around Patrocínio city.
This slows the maturation process allowing the coffee to develop more sweetness and complexity.

From an early age, Marcos Miaki grew up helping his father managing the farm, checking the crop, the harvest and the production and pursued further studies an agronomist university deciding to succeed his father and continue to grow the business by constantly optimising the yields, increasing the quality & efficiencies to become are one of the biggest farmers in the region. The family now owns ten farms in the region, of which all are producing coffee. One farm is UTZ certified and three are Rainforest Alliance certified.

Special attention has always been paid to their footprint on the environment, even before the concepts of certification reached Brazil: “Nature is priority Number 1!” As Marcos puts it. In practice, preservation goes well beyond the rigid Brazilian environmental laws. Native trees and bushes are replanted preserving the natural vegetation of the Brazilian Cerrado, while modern farming techniques are practiced.

The coffee is harvested manually as well as by modern machines that are able to harvest only the ripe cherries. They maintain their own nursery to help replant nearly 10% of the trees each year.

In conjunction with the commitment to the environment, the Miaki family also support a small local community and school.

The harvest period runs from July till September, The critical time being September, when rain arrives which can affect the drying process and can cause the loss of any coffee not harvested yet . Mechanization is one way they are using to speed up the harvest process and pulping machines are used to reduce the volume of the beans to dry.

With the combine harvest machine the rate of ripe beans collected is high, and the coffee is subsequently sorted by gravity in floatation tanks. Further, the remaining unripe beans are separated through the depulping machine, which is calibrated to remove the fruit from the ripe cherries and leave the unripe intact.

Next all the coffee goes to the drying patio, for at least 7 days, to lower the moisture levels. When it reaches around 20% moisture content, they are removed to the mechanical dryer, for about 24 hours until it lowers to about 11.5% moisture content. The coffee on the drying patio is turned time to time, to make the moisture content even. After reaching 11.5% moisture content, the green coffee is stored and left to rest for at least 30 days, to smooth out the freshness characteristics & allow the cup profile to open up.

For safety all the coffees are moved to the dry mill, where the environment is dark and the temperature cool, preserving quality until the beans are traded. All coffees are packed in Alpha bags with a tag and unique ID to ensure full traceability and clear quality control. The storage control system (database) contains all information, quality assessment, certification, quantity, screen type, and origin.

FAZENDA CHAPADAO DE FERRO   LOCATION

PICTURES