Brazil’s Parque Nacional do Caparaó, on the border of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo states, is an awe-inspiring place with slopes that are aggressively steep, shaded, and wet. Part of a scattered chain of ridgelines that combines the tropical rainforests of the Atlantic side with the warm, dry climate of the western inland expanse, Caparaó is home to a multitude of coffee producers with farms often no more than 5 hectares, miniscule by Brazil standards. Here FAF Coffees, a specialty coffee export group founded by the Croce family, has assisted in growing a small farmer network dedicated to a combination of cup quality and environmental health,.
This particular lot is a combination of 2 farms located in the Alto Jequitiba community. Sítio Cafe da Lala, owned by Josimar who inherited 15 hectare from her parents some of which she has reserved for wilderness; and neighboring farm Sitio Agua Limpa, managed by Maria Aparecida and her husband Amando Jose. Inspired by Josimar "Lala", Maria and Amando have integrated thier farm into a sustainable business producing vegetables, pigs and chickens for the local market as well as coffee. Both farms focus on producing specialty coffee with committed respect to the environment and their community. As Maria says "We are women of coffee, we plant, we care, we harvest and we prepare with love the coffee shows it.