BRAZIL Sitio do Cruz Espresso

Rogerio Rodrigues Pereira acquired Fazenda Sitio do Cruz in the 1970s. He began as a dairy farmer but in 2010/2011, he decided to reduce dairy production and begin focusing on coffee production. Since then, he’s increased the area planted with coffee by 30% each year, until coffee constitutes a significant portion of the farm.Rogerio employs agronomic engineers to help him determine the best input application and other cultivation techniques for his soil.Coffee is picked manually with a derriçadeira – a sort of mechanized rake that uses vibration to harvest ripe cherry. A tarp is spanned between coffee trees to capture the cherry as it falls and only ripe, red cherry is selected.Once picked, cherry is laid on a concrete patio to sundry. Cherry is raked frequently to ensure even drying. Once the cherry has dried significantly, coffee is taken to mechanical dryers to finish drying evenly. Finally, cherry is rested in boxes for 15 days. In total, cherry takes about 30 days to dry.