Chapadão de Ferro – Brazil

Origin Story

Carlúcio dos Santos began working in coffee in 1994 when he was invited by his uncle to come and get to know the area around Patrocínio in Brazil’s Cerrado Mineiro coffee region. Following the harvest that year he decided to stay, settling down in the city. In 2005, Carlúcio married Dona Kelly, who comes from a coffee producing family herself. Carlúcio partnered with his new brother-in-law to operate their own farm, beginning their Fazenda Chapadão de Ferro with three hectares of coffee.

Carlúcio and his brother-in-law worked with great dedication despite challenges and a lack of equipment, and have expanded their farm to include 20 hectares of coffee production today. The family all works together with a commitment to quality, taking great care in growing, harvesting, and drying their crops.

Within Cerrado, there are many microregions that present unique characteristics in the cup. The Chapadão de Ferro microregion is a small town with farms situated around the cone of a partially formed volcano. Farms here are at higher elevations above 1100 meters and coffee is harvested a month or two later than in other parts of Cerrado Mineiro.

This lot of Mundo Novo coffee underwent Natural processing. Mundo Novo is the product of a natural cross between Sumatra and Red Bourbon, discovered in the municipality of Mineiros do Tietê, São Paulo in 1943. Seeds from one of these trees were planted in the municipality of Mundo Novo, now called Urupês, in Sao Paulo state. Various lines of the plant were cultivated here, undergoing selection for positive characteristics. The results of this cultivation were finally distributed to farmers beginning in 1952, with new selections by the IAC (Agronomic Institute of Campinas) beginning in 1977.