CRUZEIRO

Fazenda Cruzeiro is a 200 hectare farm famous for producing mainly Red Catuai and Mundo Novo varieties, but only 5% of the land is dedicated to our Rubi variety which we have been purchasing for the past 4 years. The coffee has improved with every harvest, as well as our relationship with the farm.

Taste:   Red grape, Raspberry, Cocoa butter
Variety:   Rubi
Process:   Natural and silo dried
Country:   Brazil
Region:   Araxa, Minas Gerrais, Cerrado Mineiro
Altitude:   1000 masl
Producer:   Claudio Ottoni

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The impressive practices include no water waste and mplementing agroecological means of reducing and (in many cases) completely eliminating the use of herbicides. Some of these methods include planting plant species nearby the coffee trees that will attract and trap bugs and insects before they are able to infect the cherries. 

The discarded coffee pulp produced during the de-pulping of coffee cherries is recycled as compost and applied to the coffee plants.  This serves to re-invigorate soil fertility and to help the coffee plant absorb more water and nutrients.

The biggest innovation that Cruzeiro has implemented with regards to quality is the use of silo dryers in the processing of their coffee.  These silos are commonly used for seeds and other grains and help control and manage the drying process.  Their use in drying coffee has produced excellent results in the cup due to the slower drying process under controlled temperature, which increases uniformity and prevents over-fermentation. 

Even more importantly, perhaps, the silo drying process doesn’t ‘kill’ the bean, meaning that the bean can be replanted after being dried.