During the last week of January 2024, the Agrisapien team travelled to Minas Gerais in Brazil, meeting with producers, exporters and with SMC, our strategic partner in the region.

The visit to Fazendas Monte Alto and Chapadão, whose coffee we are proud to distribute in the US, could not have been more rewarding.

We had the opportunity to speak to their respective general managers - Mr. Rodrigo Martins at Fazenda Monte Alto and Mr. Carlos Vieira at Fazenda Chapadão, get a tour of their respective farms and better understand their histories, philosophies, and end-to-end production processes. We left nothing short of impressed in every respect.

In the videos below you can watch interviews with the producers and with our SMC partners where a full description by Mr. Christian Pontes, Head of Quality Control, and Master Roaster and Q-Grader Mr. Raul de Souza, of the cooperative’s specialty coffee identification and selection criteria, roasting, and Q-grading processes.

We were also fortunate to have Mr. Felipe Miranda along, who is SMC's resident Agricultural Engineer and who was kind enough to accompany our team to the farms and spoke to us on local coffee production matters, sustainability practices, and on SMC's partnership with the farmers, especially with respect to education and training.

We also spoke to SMC's Trader, Ms. Yana Guimarães, who spoke to us about the leadership roles played by women in Brazil's coffee farming and trading life.

More trips to come around harvest time. We are looking forward to that.

Monte Alto Coffees