Aequitas Coffee
Em busca de um Match Perfeito para o seu Café?
Em busca de um Match Perfeito para o seu Café?

Project with Cerrado Mineiro Region and Casa Brasil Coffees to launch the first D.O. coffees in the U.S.

After the SCA Global Coffee Expo I headed to Austin, Texas for the Cerrado Mineiro Region project with Casa Brasil Coffees to officially launch the first Designation of Origin for coffee production in the world. The project consisted in selecting five producers from different terroirs inside the Cerrado Mineiro Region who would produce a microlot for Casa Brasil.

Selfie with the customized coffee bag for the project

Selfie with the customized coffee bag for the project

Last year, in July we received Joel Shuler, Casa Brasil founder and owner, and Ian Myers, Casa Brasil general manager at Fazenda Olhos d’Água and Fazenda Santo Antonio. Joel selected a coffee plot at the farm, the yellow catuaí plot number 4, and gave us harvest and post-harvest instructions for producing Casa Brasil's microlot. The microlot was hand-picked by a group of 38 people and dried in raised beds. It was a challenging harvest because the workers are used to harvest by stripping the coffee trees' branches and had never done selective harvest. Also, picking yellow fruits is harder than red ones, which are easier to differentiate the maturation level of the fruits due to noticeable distinctive colors between ripe and almost ripe fruits.

In Austin, Edu, a producer’s son participating in the project as well, and I launched the first D.O. coffee at Whole Foods, Central Market and Sa-Ten coffee shops. We did coffee demos at Central Market where we presented and brewed our coffees to final consumers using Chemex method and at the same time shared our stories, passion and love for coffee. My family’s coffees were the Olhos d’Água microlot and the Sweet Cerrado blend.

It was rewarding following the entire coffee journey, literally from seed to cup. I saw the coffee harvesting, drying in raised bed and patios, milling, storing, grading, sorting, packing, exporting, roasting, packing again and finally going to the supermarkets and coffee shop shelves. I felt very fulfilled when interacting with final consumers and sharing with them my own story in coffee and representing the Cerrado Mineiro Region Designation of Origin. I’d like to thank Joel Shuler and the Cerrado Coffee Growers Federation for the opportunity and trust and Kayo Asazu for the opportunity of making presentations to coffee customers and enthusiasts at Sa-Ten.

 

Video produced by Casa Brasil:

Meet Yuki Minami - one of the featured growers whose Designation of Origin coffees are now available as part of our partnership with The Cerrado Mineiro Region. Yuki's great-grandparents moved to Brazil to pursue their love of coffee. Her family has lived in and grown coffee in the Cerrado Mineiro region for over 40 years, and since 2014, Yuki has dedicated herself to producing high-quality specialty coffees at her family's farms. Read more about Yuki on our site: www.casabrasilcoffees.com/olhos-dagua-2018/

SCA Global Coffee Expo: Thank you! 🙏

I’m know I’m late to report about the SCA Coffee Expo in Seattle but now I finally got the time and the mood to compose.

Visit to Starbucks Kent Flexible Plant Tour during 2017 SCA coffee expo

Visit to Starbucks Kent Flexible Plant Tour during 2017 SCA coffee expo

For the third year in a row, from the 19th to 22nd  of April, I have attended the Global Coffee Expo. One year ago, I was launching the company at the coffee expo, carrying Aequitas' brochures, business cards and a dream of sharing my family’s and other families’ stories in coffee production and exporting our coffees to people aligned with our values. I previously selected companies with similar values as Aequitas and looked for meeting their coffee buyers hoping that they would give me an opportunity. Some of them got interested in Aequitas’ purpose while other didn’t want to risk into the unknown.

But this year was different. I had 4 intense days with people that are now Aequitas’ business partners and trusted in the company’s mission. My time was also dedicated as a volunteer at the IWCA cupping — I had my coffee there as well together with coffees from other IWCA chapters worldwide — and at my US import partner cupping, where I could meet some roasters who have bought Aequitas’ coffee. Receiving their feedback about the coffee profile and about how satisfied they felt was like a turbo fuel to me.

At the IWCA breakfast we celebrated the organization’s 15th anniversary and heard inspiring stories of women who are making the difference in the coffee industry. It’s being 2,5 years that I’m an IWCA member and I’m proud of being part of this group of volunteers who advocates and fights for advancing, empowering and connecting women across the coffee value chain.

At IWCA cupping with Miriam Monteiro, IWCA Brazil vice-president, Blanca Castro, IWCA global manager, and Renee Espinoza, from Firedancer Coffee Consultants, volunteer company at the organization of IWCA cupping

At IWCA cupping with Miriam Monteiro, IWCA Brazil vice-president, Blanca Castro, IWCA global manager, and Renee Espinoza, from Firedancer Coffee Consultants, volunteer company at the organization of IWCA cupping

I came back to Brazil with a feeling of appreciation, motivated for producing and exporting precious stories of coffee growers through their specialty coffee, sharing what I’ve seen with our farms’ employees, and once again certain that coffee is about human relationships of trust and friendships.

See you at the coffee expo in Boston next year!

Aequitas Coffee: from conception to birth

Wow! 2017 was one of the most intense years in my whole life. Being an entrepreneur requires an energy that you didn’t imagine you’d have, ability to deal with unknown experiences, be patient to learn with them, and remember your mission every day.

I remember two and half years ago talking to a close friend who calls herself as my second mother. She is my mom’s age and a great counselor. At that time, I told her that I wanted to have my own business, apart from working in the family farming business, something related to specialty coffee export but I didn’t know how to start. By that time I had already exported a container with the family's coffee to Europe and wondered how I could do the same for other producers.

I’ve been closely in touch with specialty coffee since September 2013 when I did a barista course at CoffeeLab in São Paulo. In that same year, I spent three months in Paris and frequently visited many coffee shops there. I got amazed by the growing specialty coffee scene and dreamed of one day seeing my family's name in a coffee menu at one of those cafés. My knowledge was restricted to the market from a specialty coffee consumer perspective and I dedicated myself to studying and researching every time I had an opportunity to travel abroad and in São Paulo as well.

In 2014, I decided moving back from Sao Paulo, a cosmopolitan metropolis of 11 million people, to my little hometown Sao Gotardo of 30 thousand people. It was a hard decision. I aimed working with specialty coffee from a producer perspective at the family’s farm. My father has been working with coffee since he was a little boy – now he’s 70 – and here in Cerrado region since 1975. He’s never heard of specialty coffee, and considering this context, it’s not hard to imagine his resistance to my fanciful ideas about producing this sort of product. As soon as I arrived I started the traceability program and began a plan for the farm certification. Now we have Certifica Minas Certification and UTZ. 

In September 2016, after accumulating some knowledge about the market, I had my export company business canvas done and now one and half years later here I am with Aequitas. In April 2017, I officially launched Aequitas Coffee at SCA coffee expo. There I made some contacts and thanks to IWCA network I started a meaningful connection that lead Aequitas to successfully accomplish the aim of connecting producers to the specialty coffee market and vice-versa.

Aequitas coffee bag

Aequitas coffee bag

After interviewing each producer, today I feel proud and fulfilled of seeing my family’s, the producers’, and the region stories into the importers’ website and I know that it’s reaching the roasters and I believe even consumers. It comes to my memory that moment in Paris four and half years ago that motivated me to challenge myself. Finally, the farmer is now the protagonist and from their perspective this is so meaningful because it broke a paradigm that has existed for years, in which coffee was simply traded as a commodity and the producer had no idea on its quality and destination. The stories are being forwarded to a numerous number of people and for those who value it, they’ll be able to dive into a journey behind an apparently single cup of coffee. 

After this first year of export experience, Aequitas presented above market prices in relation to the region’s physical prices basis and could pay an average for ready to export coffee from 70% to 75% of the FOB price to the producer, in comparison to the C-Market, considering the day the producer was paid and a fixed currency established via export financing. The other part refers to packing, logistics, bank financing, port, government taxes and Aequitas work. 

For 2018, the expectation is to continue creating transparent, win-win relationships, long lasting, and meaningful coffee connections and share with the world our specialty coffee, our people and our stories. If you’re interested in learning what we have to offer please contact me. Or if you want to know our coffees and their profiles, please visit Crop to Cup Coffee Importers – look for Edson Tamekuni and Yuki Minami. Also Mercanta – at UK warehouse, look for Fazenda Olhos d'Água, Yamaguchi Farm Lote 68, Fazenda Onze Mil Virgens, Fazenda Santo Antonio and Fazenda Agrovila.

I couldn't finish this post without thanking my family, the producers, importers and IWCA who have trusted in Aequitas work and contributed to making this dream a reality.

See ya!