celso and gertrudes farm, mococa, sao paulo, brazil

Celso and Gertrudes farm is in the mountainous region of Caconde, in the state of Sao Paulo. They farm eight hectares of Catuai, Mundo Novo and Bourbon cultivars.

Until 2006 the farm produced conventional coffee. The transformation to specialty started when they decided to undertake post-harvest processing at the farm, rather than sell their unprocessed coffee cherries to the local wet mill facility.  They identified that their coffee was very special and successfully produced the winning lot for the specialty coffee contest for the state of Sao Paulo two years in a row. In the third year they were placed amongst the finalist of best coffees of Brazil in the Cup of Excellence ® competition. 

Working with the Croce Family at Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza has given Celso and Gertrudes access to roasters like Union with the opportunity to develop Direct Trade relationships.  We saw the farm and understood for ourselves the importance of the work that Celso and Gertrudes undertake in producing their high quality coffee.  The farm has a strong environmental programme; protecting natural water springs, waste materials are recycled, no agro-chemicals are used and the overall approach is strongly influenced by organic production systems. During the harvest, coffee is selectively picked by family members. Recently the farm invested in raised drying tables.

 Celso and Getrudes love their coffee and have ambitions to produce some of the best coffee in the world.