Brazil Direct Trade Relationship

Brazil is huge!! And its easy to be overwhelmed by the shear size of the coffee farms there compared to our usual travels in Central America. That's what makes Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza (FAF) such a wonderful place for us. Located in the region of Mococa near the southern border of Sul de Minas, FAF is the sustainably managed farm of the Croce family. We first met the Croce family, Marcos, Silvia and sons Felipe and Daniel on a visit in 2012. The 800 hectare farm is 1/3 organic coffee, 1/3 cattle ranch and 1/3 old growth forest. The Croces inherited the farm when no one else in the family was interested in running it any longer. Not having any experience themselves in farming, Marcos relied greatly on his sense of respecting the environment and listening to the experience of his neighbors. They since have created one of the greatest models of sustainability, from soil and ecosystem to business and community, that the coffee industry has.

Quality drives their business at FAF. While their farm doesn't grow nearly the yields other farms in Brazil do, their quality and commitment to organic methods mean their coffee fetches very high prices. They don't keep this model to themselves either. They have been hard a work over the past years to encourage and assist their neighbors in the high, rugged hills of Mococa. A lot of this work has been done through their Bobolink coffee project.

We're really excited to be working with such great farmers and visionaries in their community. We look forward to supporting their efforts and sharing their coffees with you over many years to come.  This year we are offering a few different micro-lots from FAF.  July 8th we'll be introducing the FAF Red Bourbon, a natural processed coffee. Then later in the month we'll be introducing a tasting series of 3 other micro-lots. Stayed tuned...