Brazil - Tres Barras

Notes: Cacao, florals & brown sugar sweetness.  Full-body & nice acidity.

FARM/COOP/STATION: Serra  das Tres Barra

VARIETAL: Yellow Bourbon

PROCESSING: Pulped Natural

ALTITUDE: 1100-1450 masl
SUBREGION/TOWN: Carmo de Minas

REGION: Mantiqueira de Minas

Context
The Junqueira family has cultivated coffee at Serra das Tres Barras for 8 generations. Today,  Jose Wagner Ribeiro Junqueira  is joined by his sons Kleber, Ralph and Herbert de Castro Junqueira, and his wife, Margarida Maria de Castro Junqueira. The Junqueira family cultivates cherry at 1,100 t 1,450 meters above sea level with a focus on high-quality production. The result is an unforgettable coffee that’s sweet and delicate with cacao, florals and a brown sugar sweetness.

The Junqueiras are support by 8 full time employees. They hire 30 additional workers during the harvest. They also receive technical assistance from COCARIVE.

Serra das Tres Barras is an exception among Brazilian farms. Labor costs are high in Brazil and it is often unaffordable to hire enough workers to harvest large farms. Instead, most farms use machines to harvest cherry. However, Serra das Tres Barras hires workers to selectively handpick cherry. They spread cloth on the group to keep cherry from falling in the dirt. Harvested cherry is taken to the farm’s processing center.

Cherry is pulped and laid to dry on patios. Drying is finished in a mechanical dryer to ensure even drying. Coffee is rested in boxes before being bagged and stored in Carmo de Minas at COCARIVE’s warehouse.
Sustenta+ is a collaboration between COCARIVE and AgroCP, a fertilizer company focused on renewable fertilizers. Sustenta+ is a new certification that COCARIVE member farmers can attain by focusing on environmentally-sound coffee production techniques. 

Sucafina has partnered with COCARIVE since 2015.
COCARIVE gives support to its members in all parts of the production chain. Their team of agronomists and technical experts assists with cultivation techniques, machinery, storage and finally commercialization of the beans.

Once parchment is dry, cooperative members send their coffee to the COCARIVE warehouses. The cooperative takes care of grading, commercialization and export. They have their own quality lab and storage and milling facilities in Carmo de Minas.

At the dry mill, where they prepare the coffee for export, COCARIVE has its own laboratory for quality control. Their team of trained cuppers and Q graders makes the first selection based on cup quality. They will verify which lots are suitable and of high enough cup quality for specialty microlots. Their quality control team checks the quality of every lot at a variety of times throughout the dry milling process analyzing both physical green and cup characteristics.

All COCARIVE member farms have the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) certificate. On top of that, they are all certified by the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA). This certificate is a guarantee from BSCA that every aspect of labor at the farm is legal. It also guarantees the implementation of environmentally friendly practices on the farm during all steps of the coffee production process.