In 2009 we had our first visit to our friends Marcos and Felipe’s farm Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza. Marcos and Felipe Croce are a father and son team and run their farm according to sustainable and organic practices in Mococa in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. They spend a lot of their time spreading their principles about sustainability, organic farming and also help replanting forests and encouraging their neighboring farmers to become sustainable.

(Marcos, Joao and Felipe)

Joao Hamilton is one of the many farmers who is a partner of Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza. Sitio Canaa is the name of his farm that he inhereted from his father and runs with his brother Ivan Dos Santos.

Joao has radically changed the agricultural practices on his farm for the past couple of years. After many years of conventional farming he started to realize that if he continued spraying his trees and soil with chemicals and cut down all vegetation around his farm, there would not be any fertile soil or healthy land for his kids to take over. Therefore, Joao decided to stop using pesticides, minimize the use of artificial fertilizers, let the weed and vegetation within and around the farm grow and also plant new trees around the farm in order to prevent deforestation and also to promote a more versatile vegetation in the area. He also protects the natural springs in the area and has started a recycling program together with his neighboring farmers. His goal is to transfer his farm to becoming 100% organic. This takes time though, as the trees have to adapt to their natural cycle again and the loss of production by growing organic coffee is not yet sustainable economically. The positive effect his changes have made is that the coffee trees are more flexible and healthy, they have no problems with pests and diseases on the trees and the coffee tastes much better and completely different than before.

After seeing the results of the changes he made, and also the prices he got for better quality coffee, Joao became even more focused on raising the quality of his coffee. After our visit in 2009 he built 2 large raised drying beds to improve the drying of his coffee. He has spent more time teaching the 15 pickers he hires during harvest so that they only pick the fully ripe purple coffee cherries. This means that a lot of the sugars in the pulp have started to migrate in to the actual coffee bean resulting in a sweeter coffee.

In 2010 we were back in Brazil to visit Joao Hamilton and Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza. After  blind cupping all the coffees from the partners of F.A.Fortaleza the results were pretty much the same as when we did the same cupping in 2009. Joao Hamilton’s coffee was a clear stand out on the table.

Joao was very excited to hear about the results and after a nice discussion over a cup of coffee we agreed to try to continue working together towards raising his quality with the help of Marcos and Felipe at Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza. We have already experimented with various processing techniques and separating varietals in 2010 and will continue experimenting in the future. Hopefully we will continue to enjoy his coffees for many years.

Producer: Mr. Joao Hamilton & Ivan Dos Santos together with Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza
Lot size: 1140 Kg
Harvest: August 2010
Origin: Caconde, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Growing conditions: 1200 – 1350 m.a.s. No shade trees.
Farm size: 32 hectars but only 10 is used for growing coffee.
Botanical variety: Red and yellow Catuaí and Bourbon.
Process: Joao and Ivan only picks the ripest cherries by hand together with their family and 15 hired pickers. After picking, the cherries are pulped and 90 % of the mucilage is removed with the use of an aquapulper (centrifugal mucilage remover) Then the parchment coffee is dried on raised beds without being washed or fermented. Drying takes about 10 days and Joao and his brother and father are picking out all the defected beans they can find during this period.This process is often called “Semi washed” or “pulped natural” and normally gives you a sweeter coffee than the washed coffees and a cleaner coffee than the Natural processed coffees. The coffee is packed and shipped in Grain pro bags.

Taste description:
Aroma and flavours of milk chocolate, nougat, molasses, almonds and hazelnuts.
Firm acidity, with low intensity. Creamy mouthfeel with muscovado sugar sweetness.

You can buy this coffee in our webshop.

Here are some more pictures from the farm:
(Click on full screen, then “show info” to get info on the pictures)