Fazenda Sertao

Fazenda Sertao in the Brazilian state of Carmo de Mina is an 850-hectare farm with 330 hectares planted in coffee trees of several varieties, including Red and Yellow Bourbon, Yellow Catucai, and Yellow Catuai. The farm also grows bananas and corn and is used to raise dairy livestock. This farm has a love story behind it: Among the first generation of coffee growers in this area was Jose Isidro Pereira, a dentist-turned coffee producer who inherited Fazenda Sertao from his mother when she passed away, an incident that ended his dentistry career but put him on a path to coffee farming. In 1949, Jose Isidro met the „love of his life,“ Nazareth, who continues to run the farm her husband left in her care. Nazareth and Jose Isidro’s children Francisco, Luiz Paulo, Clycia, and Sandra are also coffee producers, carrying on the family tradition.

Fazenda Sertao is located 1000m above sea level and has an average annual temperature of 18ºC. Crops are planted on the top of hillsides with slopes of up to 50%. That’s an important measure to avoid frosts, common in the region in winter, affecting the health of the trees and to provide a more uniform ripening as well as protection against fungi infections. All these steps, in the end, result in achieving better final quality.