Hey there, Mike here! QA coffee roaster at Seven Miles, located in Manly Vale, Sydney, I recently had an incredible trip to Brazil with Bennetts, where I met local farmers, co-ops, cuppers, and everyone in between who is responsible for bringing coffee from farm to cup. Each day was filled with visits to farms and cooperatives, which are groups that support farmers by pooling their resources. While buying directly from a farm can be tricky, cooperatives are essential for managing logistics and ensuring fair payments for farmers. Here’s a quick summary of our trip, thanks to the Bennetts team for gathering all the info and some behind-the-scenes tidbits from me!
Wednesday, July 17th – Ipanema Rio Verde & Conquista Guest House
We travelled through stunning landscapes to Ipanema, stopping for lunch with Carlos Eduardo from Café Carmo de Minas, who produces 600 bags annually and is eager to try Geisha and Pacamara varieties. Glauco and Maria shared that Rio Verde's harvest is down 15-20% due to high temperatures, but they’re optimistic about next year’s recovery. With 800 workers focused on quality, their Premier Cru lots will be available worldwide on October 1st. Seven Miles has sourced a lot of Ipanema coffee for blends and specialty single origins - they truly create beautiful coffee!
Thursday, July 18th – Ipanema Conquista Farm
Today, we learned about Ipanema's reach as Japan's largest export market, supplying about 100 containers to Lawson stores, where their coffee makes up 55% of the blend. Their $7 million investment in the Rio Verde facility is impressive! At Conquista HQ, we discovered their innovative machine harvesting, which covers 93% of their crop. The highlight was a cupping session where we tasted clean, sweet coffees from the 24/25 crop, truly showcasing Ipanema's commitment to quality, especially in the Cup of Excellence.
Friday, July 19th – Cooxupé Office + Japy Dry Mill + SMC Office
What a massive co-op day at Cooxupé! Paulo and Edir rolled out the red carpet for us. Founded in 1932, they support 19,500 farmers and exported 5 million bags last year! At the Japy Dry Mill, we checked out their high-tech warehouse and cool rectangular bags for better stacking. With 3,200 solar panels, they’re rocking sustainability! We even cupped 12 coffees with Dionatan Almeida, the 2024 World Cupping Champion - he and I matched on the flavour notes and scored the same on this delicious coffee (bromance). Top-notch stuff and an inspiring chat about the high quality coffees at SMC.
Saturday, July 20th – Fazenda Passeio with SMC
We had an amazing visit to Fazenda Passeio with Yana and Vivian from SMC, hosted by owners Adolfo and Mateo. This 200-hectare farm exports 8,000 bags annually to Japan and the US and is all about sustainability, using battery-powered harvesting machines. Labour shortages have stretched harvest times, but they grow fantastic varieties like Paraiso and Catucai. The next day, I shared a cup with Adolfo and Dionatan; we both scored it an impressive 88! Adolfo was so touched by our praise - it was a heartwarming moment!
This farm was the trailblazer for the Cup of Excellence - the very first winner came from here! The Cup of Excellence is the top coffee competition that finds incredible coffees and gives farmers the recognition they deserve! The owner shared that back in the day, hitting a score of 80 was cause for a party! But now, with the rising standards in the coffee world, an 80 isn’t a win anymore—it’s more like a loss.
Monday, July 22nd – MB Trade, Minasul, LDC
At MB Trade, we met Natalia and Andre, the founders who run four family farms called Fazenda Jaguara, all focused on being eco-friendly. They hire about 100 workers during harvest, mostly for hand-picking, and have a cool initiative called "Seeds for the Future" to promote sustainability. Next, we visited Minasul, where Carolina and Douglas showed us around. They exported 400,000 bags of coffee last year and aim to boost specialty coffee exports to 100,000 bags by 2024. Fun fact: This is the source of our beans for the Wilde Blend. Finally, we toured LDC’s warehouse and sampled 11 coffees with their quality team, all of which met their high standards!
Tuesday, July 23rd – Cocarive & Fazenda Santa Clara
We met Baba and Ugo from Cocarive, a co-op established in 1961 that supports about 2,000 farmers, each averaging 8 hectares. They process around 250,000 bags of coffee but face challenges like bean size and labour shortages. They aim to expand coffee tourism and expect to export 120,000 bags this year.
At Fazenda Santa Clara, we connected with Enrique and his team. The farm covers 5,000 hectares, with 10% dedicated to coffee, forecasting 16,000 bags this year, mainly yellow varieties, showing improved bean sizes despite less hand-picking.
Wednesday, July 24th – Familia Afonso at San Sebastiao Farm
We visited the Afonso family’s San Sebastião farm with Baba and learned about the father-son duo, Helison and Sebastian. They switched from rice to coffee farming because rice wasn’t efficient. Sebastian grew his production from 102 sacks in 1995 to 2,500 sacks by 2007, now managing five farms across 450 hectares.
Renowned in specialty coffee, they won their first award in 2008 and have since earned several Cup of Excellence accolades. The farm, sitting at 1,350 masl, thrives thanks to its rich soil and careful management.
These producers set a world record for the Cup of Excellence score. The farm was impeccable - every detail meticulously maintained, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Known for their yellow Catucaí, they produce stunning, beautiful cherries that form the backbone of many of our single-origin coffees.
Thursday, July 25th – Comexim Farm, Office, and Warehouse
We met the Comexim team, including Bruno and Mauricio, and toured their farm, which produces about 1,000 bags of coffee each year. This farm helps assess the health of regional crops but struggles with labour shortages, requiring hand-picking due to its layout, employing around 110 workers. The next day, we explored their impressive warehouse, which can store about 250,000 bags and fill 448 bags per 40-foot container. They manage around 120,000 bags monthly.
Final Thoughts on the Trip
The lovely people we met were incredibly welcoming, wow, I’ve never eaten so much delicious food in my life! Connecting with the farmers and local people is so special, not only for me but for them as well. Meeting the roaster who deliver the coffee to the customers, seeing the end of the coffee chain really brought the whole farm-to-cup concept to life.
On this trip I learned just how vital cooperatives are for supporting farmers. And let me tell you, the cuppers at the co-ops put me to shame! I thought I was doing well with my 50-60 cups in a day, but these guys are cupping over 1,000! It's mind-blowing.
As for the future of coffee, there are challenges ahead, but witnessing these farmers on the ground implementing innovative ideas is incredibly inspiring. Their passion for improving quality is contagious, and it’s exciting to see the industry unite to tackle these challenges together!
