THE STORY BEHIND

Located in the Sul De Minas region, Fazenda Santa Lucia has a perfect setting for coffee growing. The 123-hectare farm has been managed by the Garcia family since 1994. The family has a history of three generations of coffee producers, beginning with Alexandre Garcia Capelo who inspired his son, Antonio Wander Garcia, to follow his footsteps and to farm coffee, studying agricultural engineering and specifically researching plant reproduction and plant nutrition. Antonio’s son, Andreì Luiz Alvarenga Garcia, continued the family tradition and also studied agricultural engineering, focusing on pruning and production. With this knowledge they now work together on the Fazenda Santa Lùcia, taking utmost care and attention to create the best growing environment for the coffee trees.

They have started using more organic fertilisers, while reducing the volume of agrochemicals they use on the crop. Since taking over the farm they have also started planting native fruit trees each year as well as brachiaria (a type of grass) and banana plants in between the rows of coffee plants to help maintain the health of the soils and prevent erosion. The farm also uses the practice of cyclical pruning on a 2 or 4 year rotation depending on the climate and the structural condition of the plant. This helps strengthen the plant and reduces its susceptibility to disease.

Fazenda Santa Lucia has 11 permanent employees, each of whom has worked on the farm for over 20 years. Each year the employees receive a 10% premium bonus at the end of the harvest if coffee is sold as a specialty grade. The coffee is handpicked, with the ripe cherry separated before being placed on raised beds to dry for 25-30 days with regular turning. 

THE FERMENTATION PROCESS

Dry process seems simple: pick the fruit, lay it out in the sun until it turns from red to brown to near-black, and then hull off the thick, dried outer layer in one step to reveal the green bean. It is a method suited to arid regions, where the sun and heat can dry the seed inside the intact fruit skin.

It's often referred to as "natural coffee" because of its simplicity, and because the fruit remains intact and undisturbed, a bit like drying grapes into raisins. Since it requires minimal investment, the dry process method is a default to create cheap commodity-grade coffee in areas that have the right climate capable of drying the fruit and seed.

But it’s a fail in humid or wet regions. If the drying isn't progressing fast enough, the fruit degrades, rots or gets covered with mould.

Dry-processed coffees can also be wildly inconsistent. If you want a cleanly-fruited, sweet, intense cup, dry process (DP) takes more hand labor than wet process. Even the most careful pickers will take green unripe or semi-ripe coffee off the branch as they pick red, ripe cherry. If these are not removed in the first days of drying, the green turns to brown that is hard to distinguish from the ripe fruit.