BRAZIL
The Cerrado region, in southwestern Minas Gerais, is known for its homogeneous climate and altitude. The average temperature is around 68°F, an average rainfall of 1,600 mm falls reliably from December to March, and the altitude lightly rolls from 900 to 1,250 meters above sea level. Such consistency is a big help to producers - who can focus on quality and production, instead of the weather - and to our colleagues at Stockler. “The main thing in Cerrado is the uniformity,” says Alexandre Ferraz, a Q Grader and Senior Coffee Trader at Stockler. “The weather conditions allow for a lot of control, and the farmers in Cerrado are very professional and very high tech. Their use of harvesting machines, for example, allows them to better control the exact moment to harvest, which also contributes to uniformity.” Cerrado is home to approximately 140,000 hectares of dedicated co ee production and approximately 3,600 co ee producers, the majority of whom are organized into large cooperatives. Stockler enjoys working with the same farmers, and has strong relationships across the region, but the contributors to Oberon change each year, as the focus in on an absolutely consistent cup profi le. Co ee farms in Cerrado vary in size from roughly 100 hectares to more than 3,000 hectares. And producers tend to be very open to feedback, says Alexandre, if they believe it will improve their cup quality. “We encourage the producers to trace their best co ees to particular lots, so we can trace not only to the farm but to the specifi c location on the farm.”
ETHIOPIA
The Djimma region in southwestern Ethiopia is known as the birthplace of coffee. The story of the famous goatherder, Kaldi, is thought to take place in Djimma. Farming methods in Djimma remain largely traditional. Most farmers in the region farm on fewer than 5 hectares (many counting their coffee farms in terms of trees rather than area). Cultivation methods are traditional for the most part, with coffee being grown as part of an integrated ‘coffee garden,’ intercropped with other food crops. In addition to remaining traditionally intercropped, most farms are also traditional and organic-by-default. Farmers in Djimma typically use very few—if any—fertilizers or pesticides. Most farm work is done manually and very few tasks are mechanized, even during processing. The majority of coffees grown in Djimma are local landrace varieties (which are often also called Ethiopian heirloom). Other varieties grown in the region were developed by the Jimma Agricultural Research Centre (JARC). JARC is an important research center for Ethiopia and has done a great deal of work on developing disease resistant and high yielding varieties that still demonstrate quality in the cup.
Due to the size of most plots, coffee is typically handpicked by landowners and their family. All coffee is selectively hand-harvested before being delivered to a collection center or directly to the washing station. At the washing station, coffee is sorted to remove damaged or underripe cherry. Cherry is then delivered raised beds to dry under shade for 10-14 days until moisture content reaches 12%. During this time, the cherry is regularly turned and hand sorted several times to remove any damaged or discolored cherry. This level of labor and love results in a truly exquisite cup profile.
