Brazil Capricornio — This Side Up
 

A NEW TAKE ON BRAZIL

Honestly, Brazil had never been on our minds as a potential origin for This Side Up. We didn't think our mission of helping smallholders market their coffees would fit in such an established coffee industry. However, Luiz Saldanha and his partners captured our imagination. They established Capricornio to breathe new life in five regions in the southern states of Paraná and São Paolo, which until the 1960s, were one of the country's most vibrant coffee producing regions. Due to terrible frosts and the rise of the major coffee regions up north, its production stagnated, leading many coffee farmers to move north, leaving their farms underdeveloped. Now, due to climate change, these regions have become attractive to farmers again, but hardly anyone saw specialty potential.

That is until Capricornio found 20 passionate farmers and started the Four Seasons project: they helped them turn their farms into modern, ecologically sustainable farms and process their coffees to the highest standards. Now, they have started to show what these coffee regions have to offer the specialty coffee world. Because of its uniquely low latitude (around the tropic of Capricorn at 23ºS), coffee here endures more stress while developing. This leads to large, slowly ripened cherries with surprisingly complex cup profiles, similar to what happens at higher altitudes.

Ever since 2017 when we started cooperating, we keep on discovering another Brazil through our partnership with Capricornio. Every time Maarten visits Brazil and witnesses the advancements they implement in terms of sustainability, agroecology, and gender equality, he comes back bewildered: Unparalleled regenerative alternatives, the country’s highest employment standards and their tireless work to spread their knowledge throughout their network are just some of the reasons why we are blessed to have Capricornio as our largest origin partner.

 

These are our partners in the Capricornio network.

Two estates at the forefront of intercropping, reforestation, microbial research, and coffee processing experimentation. Two cooperatives are working hard to bring better opportunities to the region. 

SÃO JERÔNIMO DA SERRA

workers: 10
trees: between 15.000 and 18.000 (each)
hectares: each farmers has from 2 to 10 ha

MULHERES DO CAFÉ MATÃO

workers: 22
trees: 2.800 and 3.000 (each)
hectares: each farmer has between 1 and 2 ha

FAZENDA CALIFORNIA

workers: 52 (from which 24 are women)
trees: 4.100 per hectare
hectares: 185 (65 hectares are being restored)

 
 

FAZENDA FRONTEIRA

workers: 6
trees: 40.000 producing trees + 20.000 in formation
hectares: 100 (only 23 are for coffee)

SIGNATURES

Three blends made exclusively and traceably from our four partner farms and groups.

 

Our direct link is with Capricornio, who links our roaster partners to the right growers in their Four Seasons project through blended Signature lots, single estate lots and various specially processed microlots. Capricornio is the ultimate example of a force for good for an entire producing region by understanding roaster needs perfectly.

 

Traceability

You can find all the signed contracts and shipping documents that we made with Capricornio since 2021 below (Google Drive).

 

2017: We start importing our first signatures from Brazil, changing the outreach of This Side Up completely. For the first time in our history, we offered staple coffees that many our trusted clients came to rely on.

2018 : Luiz offers a presentation about “Adapting to your Market” in the Producer Crossover event in Amsterdam. The special fermentation lot “Honey Moon” is used in the World Championships as a competition coffee. We continue promoting Signatures in Europe, with great success. 

2019 : experienced a significant increase in demand for Signature lots, making Capricornio our biggest supplier.

2020 : Maarten visits Fazenda Fronteira, the neighboring Fazenda 7 Senhoras, and the big estate Morada da Prata in the Alta Mogiana region. The variety of farm sizes and company types gives even more color to the Signature blends, making the flavour stability even more impressive. 

2021 : a heavy drought hits the coffee lands of Brazil in the middle of the 2020/2021 season; three frost waves followed during the harvesting period. The production went down 40%, compared to last year’s quantities, and the frost waves hit an average of 10 to 15% of the coffees trees in the Paraná, São Paulo and Minas Gerais states, Some farmers had losses up to 80%. Nonetheless, the relationship with This Side Up and Capricornio proved to be strong, with secured quantities, no defaulting on contracts happened.

2022: we develop Ellen Fontana and São Jerônimo lines; our c-price strategy is put into action; TSU obtains its own exclusive “Relationships” line. We celebrate that Luiz gets elected to the board borad of SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) as the first farmer in history. At the same time, Capricornio is awarded as a Great Place to Work.

2023: Visit to Capricornio by the team and some of This Side Up’s longest roasting partners. Established an elaborate project for expanding the regenerative practices of Fazenda California to our other partner farms from the 0,06 regenerative premiums of the last years.

Our QC’s Flavour impressions

Overall, this season feels very blissful in its diversity.The magic of Capricornio is that they are able to capture the full spectrum of possible flavours of coffee. From very calm and comfy notes of milk chocolate, nougat and raisins to a tropical fruit pallate with the most sparkly and playful acidity. Surprisingly pretty much all the lots carry a very rounded and creamy body.

Renata Hardewijn, January 2024

Roasting advice

Capricornio advises a lower drop temperature for all their coffees compared to Brazils from further north such as Minas Gerais. As far as Ikawa goes, there is one profile to rule them all. After years in use, our Brazil profile works like a charm for pretty much all our lots. Of course there are always exceptions, so if you feel stubborn notes of peanuts and hay, please adjust both length (+10 sec) and end temperature (+1/2C) for better result.

 
 
 

 

Luiz Saldanha

Email: capricornio@capricorniocoffees.com.br
Phone: +55 14 3161 9060

 
 

Rod PR 431, Km 37-CX Postal 32, Jacarezinho-PR, Brazil

 

Photo Gallery

You may use these images freely to promote Capricornio.

 

INNOVATION AS THE MAIN DRIVER

Dead plant roots, compacted soil, no organic matter, erosion and degraded soil life. In the early days of the 21st century, this nowadays postcard pretty farm didn't quite look the part. Starting out as a research center for coffee for the University of California more than a century ago, the last part of the 20th century it served as a sugar cane farm. The way the place was farmed degraded the soils heavily and financially, the farm went bust. In 2004, the farm was acquired by Dr. Paulo Cesar Saldanha Rodrigues and his nephew, Luiz Saldanha Rodrigues. The first one being a visionary entrepreneur, the latter an agronomy student and coffee Q-grader in the making. They had big plans to show that agriculture could regenerate a farm and that farming can heal, instead of only take. Not long after the acquisition of the farm, Paulo and Luiz went flying, and suffered a tragic plane crash, which killed Paulo. Luiz decided to continue the dream together with this wife Flavia, and they live to date at the farm with their two daughters Heloisa and Maria.

Today, the farm has 100% of its coffee plants renewed since the day this adventure started. Next to this, its structures and production processes, harvesting, wet mill, drying, storage and dry mill were upgraded and a management system of sustainable production was set up, adapting the property to the highest levels of the world market demand. Nowadays, with the mission of producing high quality food and coffee for the consumer, society and the environment, husband and wife, who are both Q-Graders, share the same love for coffee quality and dream of extending this passion for the next generation. With their knowledge of farming, sustainability and coffee quality, their coffees compete at world level standards, and serve as an inspiration for the whole This Side Up family.

  • Luiz Roberto Saldanha has a degree in Agronomic Engineering, Business Administration, MBA in Production Management and Specialization in Corporate Coffee Culture. In 2010 he was elected Vice-President of the Specialty Coffees Association of Norte Pioneiro do Paraná (ACENPP) and, in 2012, he assumed the presidency of the institution. Under its management and in partnership with the other institutions participating in the project, in May 2012, the Norte Pioneiro do Paraná Region received the Registration of Geographical Indication of Origin with the INPI (National Institute of Trademarks and Patents), becoming, at the time, the third producing region in Brazil to receive it.

    Luiz was an active member of the Technical Committee on Coffee Culture of the Federation of Agriculture of the State of Paraná (FAEP) between the years 2007 and 2014 and a member of the Sectorial Chamber of Coffee of the State of Paraná, having been elected sub-manager of the entity between the years 2011 and 2012. During the period, he assisted in the elaboration of projects for restructuring coffee production in Paraná together with the research and extension agencies of the State, in order to assist the development of public policies for the sector.

    Managing Fazenda Califórnia, he was responsible for the implementation of the UTZ Certified (2007) and Rainforest Alliance (2011) social and environmental certification protocols, the first certified property in the State of Paraná, in both cases.​

    Fascinated by the search for knowledge in the different production and post-harvest techniques of specialty coffees, since 2009, he has made technical visits to different producing countries such as: Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama and Colombia. He also carried out technical collaboration work with renowned international specialists Aida Batlle, from El Salvador, and Lucia Solis, from the USA, validating different fermentation protocols and implementing good processing practices from the wine industry to Fazenda California.

    As a cupper, he was a member of the national judges of the Cup of Excellence Competition (COE) in different editions and, in 2013, he was part of COE International Jury. In 2012 he was certified Q-Grader by the Coffee Quality Institute and is currently part of the training program for Assistant Instructors of the institution.​

    With the adaptation of Fazenda California's production processes, and the search for continuous improvement, it won several awards in State and National quality contests, as well as the honor of being part of the select group of recognized properties with the seal of “Cup of Excellence”. Fazenda California was the first property in Paraná to win a COE title (2010) and the only one to repeat the feat (2015).

    In 2018, Fazenda California is promoted by the Starbucks Reserve Program with their first ever Yeast Control Fermentation lot, and receives the partnership for the Social Program “Vozes de São Francisco” child chorus. On the other side of the world, the Taiwanese Coffee in Good Spirits Champion Chris So, competes in the WCE with Fazenda California Honey Moon lot. It’s this year This Side Up picks up the rising star and starts the natural connection with Luiz, finding out that they have a lot in common. 

    Next year, in 2019, This Side Up starts to trial the special fermentation processes on the European market. Promising, as the Obatã Honey Moon wins the gold medal at the  Australian International Coffee Awards Single Origin Espresso that year. Luiz makes the presentation “Thinking Differently from Seed to Cup” at the Australian event Firestarter 2019 in Melbourne. At the farm, Fazenda California builds an on-site laboratory to start the studies and validation of production and use of microbiological agents in its production system.

    In 2020 Luiz started a Specialization in Neuroscience and Behavior: “After all, the coffee chain is made up of people and, as fascinating as understanding the nuances present in each cup, is understanding the nuances of those behind them ...”. That same year, This Side Up’s Maarten visited Fazenda California to see the fields, the wet mill, the fermentation tanks and more. With so many pioneering techniques to be witnessed, any visit to Fazenda California feels too short. Whilst Maarten being there, Luiz graduates as a Coffee Expert in the Coffee Quality Institute program Q-Processing 3. In the field, the trials are now scaling for the use of microbial agents on pests and diseases management as for root system strengthening and nutrients recycling. 

    In the early months of 2021, Fazenda California opened it’s on-site laboratory to research on microbial behavior and develop microbial “cocktails” to be inserted under the coffee trees. Next to soil microbial behavior, the laboratory is also the home of a PhD research on microbial behavior in the fermentation tank, and specifically, the changes of DNA composition when fermenting. Once again, Fazenda California is proving to be on the forefront of coffee science in general, and more so, science that can help farmers to develop regenerative agricultural systems. Luiz does not sit still and becomes a Coffee Quality Institute Q-Processing Instructor and a Q-Grader Assistant Instructor. Next to this, Fazenda California begins a honey project in its preservation areas. Time seems abundant, as Luiz and Flávia create next to all this an environmental education program called  “The Future is in Our Hands”, in partnership with the Environmental Institute of Paraná for school kids from Jacarezinho City.

 
 

CULTIVARS

Yellow Catuaí, Mundo Novo, Obatã.


Elevation

750 meters


NOTABLE

Luiz is more of a coffee scientist who happens to run a farm than a farmer. Every aspect of the growth and thriving of his coffee plants is thought about and tweaked through regenerative, microbial, fungal and other kinds of highly technical but natural growing and processing methods.


PROCESSING

  • Description machine harvested and patio dried in cherries for 22 days.

  • A very detailed step by step process after the cherries are manually picked. First, the cherries are soaked in cold water for 24 hours, then the cherries are pulped and fermented without water for 24 hours. After this, the fermented coffee is removed from the fermentation tanks and washed with clean water. The drying process starts with a centrifuge to remove any excess water before using the mechanical dryer with shifts of 12 hours drying and 12 hours resting until reaching a 16% moisture content. After this, the coffee rests for 10 days in silos in order to obtain a better uniformity of moisture content. The procedure of 12 hours drying and 12 hours resting continues until reaching a final moisture level of 11%. As a last step, the coffee rests for 45 days in the resting silos before going to the dry mill.

  • Manually selected ripe cherries, submitted to a controlled fermentation in anaerobic environment process in cherry for 96 hours, without exotic starter culture. Applying using own wild microbes from the on-farm facility in the airtight barrel. Afterwards dried as a natural, where it continues to yeast on the raised beds.

  • Cherries selectively manually picked and soaked in cold water for 24 hours, then dried as Naturals on African Beds for 21 days.

  • Competition coffee. Created for Flávia, when Luiz and Flávia celebrated their 20 years together. It’s a process that has different techniques. Firstly, fermentation in cherry in anaerobic environment, purpose to get lactic fermention and smoothness in taste. After this inoculation in starter culture, in to get density and complexity, all in airtight environment. Thirdly, dried as a natural, on raised beds. The purpose is to create a flavor bomb.

  • Competition coffee. Follows same steps as honeymoon. Created for Maria, Luiz’ youngest daughter. “Our little hurricane”. First step cherry ferment, then starter culture in anaerobic environment, difference with Honeymoon is that it’s pulped afterwards, and dried as a pulped coffee. Created for elegance in taste.

 

  • The price you pay for Fazenda California natural p/kg. We agreed on this price directly with the farmers, disregarding the volatile US Coffee C price.

  • Capricornio buys unsorted green beans (all grades) from farmers and pays them per 60 kg bag of coffee. Farmers can get a higher price for special processes.

    Capricornio pays the same premium farm gate price per 60 Kg bag for the micro, nano lot coffee.


    Luiz Saldanha (Cold soul, double ferments, Pérola Negra) : € 6,30

  • Capricornio incurs cost to sort all grades of green coffee purchased from the farmer into different lots under the specialty grade spectrum like single farmer lots, blends, nano/micro lots and competition lots. Other costs borne by Capricornio include dry milling, grain pro, small holder training fee and exporter charges for sorting, shipping the coffees to the Netherlands.

    For the special processes, this amount is calculated as what is remaining after the Farm gate from the FOB. This amount is used to cover for sorting, freight and export costs.

    Cold soul, Double fermentation, Perola Negra : € 1,14

  • International shipping from Santos, Brazil to Rotterdam, Netherlands. It is inclusive of customs, insurance and warehousing costs.

  • Average financing cost owed to (mostly social) lenders. This ensures immediate payment to the farmers when the coffee leaves the farm or port.

  • A standard TSU premium on all coffees designated exclusively to accelerate farmers’ own regenerative agriculture projects. Read about the work done by Capricornio on creating an integrated pest managemen

  • This Side Up compensation for spending time and resources importing this coffee. Our work includes year-round contact with producers, managing export, shipping, import, warehousing, grading, sampling, finding and keeping roasting partners for Capricornio. € 1,65 is This Side Up’s Model 1 markup. For a full overview of our modular margin construction, see the Trade Models page.

 

Key Achievements

  • 2019: Soon after our collaboration with Fazenda California begins, and in search of innovative agroecological practices to implement in the Fazenda California, Luiz and his team build an on-site laboratory to study the use of microbiological agents in its production system. The Obatã Honey Moon wins the Gold Medal at the Australian International Coffee Awards. And we include their competition lots on our offer.

    2020: The on-site laboratory is a success. The use of microbial agents for pests and disease management, as well as for root systems and nutrient recycling, is scaled up. This same year, Luiz graduates as a Coffee Expert in the Coffee Quality Institute program Q-Processing 3.

    2021: Fazenda California turns into an agroecological and agroforestry example in the area. Luiz and Flávia create a honey project in the estates’ preserved areas. The microbial project continues to evolve and a 4 years partnership with Federal University of Paraná to study the characterization of the microbiome of Norte Pioneiro do Paraná and its impacts in coffee quality starts. At the same time, Luiz and Flávia create an environmental education program called “The Future is in Our Hands”, in partnership with the Environmental Institute of Paraná for school kids from Jacarezinho City.

    2022: Luiz travels to the Producer Crossover in Milan, where he shares the outputs of the microbial project, meets with roasters, and shares his vision. Our relationship gets stronger and we celebrate when he is elected as the first-ever farmer to become a board member in the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association).

    2023: The This Side Up team visits Fazenda California, and see the microbial lab in its finished and operational state. The scalability and scientific approach to stimulate local microbial growth that improve the plant and soil health are amazing to witness. Later in the year, Flávia Rodrigues wins 1st place in the women in agriculture "Mulheres do Agro 2023" award.

Contact Luiz SALDANHA

Luiz Saldanha is always on the move and most likely somewhere close to you sometime in the year. He is one of the most sensitive to roaster needs and customised orders of all our partners - contact him to find out more how he can help you with your Brazil needs!

MANAGER Luiz Roberto Saldanha Rodrigues

EMAIL luiz@capricorniocoffees.com.br 

TEL +55 14 3161 9060

FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM

 

PHOTO GALLERY

You may use these images freely to promote Fazenda California among your customers.

 

FLAVOUR STABILITY AT ITS Finest

Quality and consistency. It's not easy when you're a farmer, with changing weather and different circumstances on a yearly or even seasonal basis, to match the exact same flavor profile as last year. It might even be impossible. For this reason, the team of Q-graders of Capricornio Coffees cup all the coffees of the more than a dozen partner fazendas and farmer groups, grade them according to their flavor and quality, and then make farmer blends solely based on taste. For example, the Timbó Signature blend is described as dark chocolate with a sweet and thick round body. One year, this might consist of more coffee from farm A than farm B. The year after, this might be the other way around.

Farm composition in the coffee bag might change, but the farms don't sit still. Being part of Capricornio's Four Seasons Project, they get free agronomical support, with an agronomist visiting them every 60 days. Together, they look at plant and soil health and do soil measurements that advise which parts of the farms need extra attention. It's high-end knowledge and solid partnership to provide a sustainable future.

Since 2017, we have been working with the Signature lines. They have proven to be the stable factor of many roasters and cafés for either blends or singles. However, in 2022 we designed a program to achieve the flavour stability we seek while only sourcing from the same partners year on year in our trusted Capricornio network: São Jerónimo da Serra, Mulheres do Café Matão, Fazenda Fronteira and Fazenda California.

 
 

CULTIVARS

Red Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Red Catuai, Yellow Catuai, Obatã, Topázio, Arara, Red Icatu, Grape (IAC 125), Acaiá, Ouro Verde, IAPAR and Mundo Novo.


Elevation

450 - 1,200 meters.


NOTABLE

Signatures are blends created in origin for flavour stability. Ours are fully traceable and derive from a mix of the four unique relationships we have with our partners from Capricornio: Fazenda California, Fazenda Fronteira, Mulheres do Café Matão, and the group of smallholder farmers of São Jerônimo da Serra. We offer three Relationships lines: the Timbó (used to be Dulce) for its chocolate thick sweetness, the Pioneiro (used to be Sorocabana) for its nut and cream notes, and the Límpido (previously Piraju) for its less thick but pleasantly sweet dried fruits.


PROCESSING

Signatures lots are machine picked, blends of pulped natural and natural processed fazenda lots, patio and machine dried, dry milled with great eye for detail with state-of-the-art equipment before carefully cupped by qualified graders and combined and calibrated for annual consistency.

Cupping Notes

2024 HARVEST

Access the reports directly for these 2024 coffees through these hyperlinks.

Capricornio -Timbó signature blend-honey

Carpicornio Límpido signature blend - honey

Capricornio Pioneiro signature blend - honey

 

  • The price you pay for Signature blend lines p/kg. We agreed on this price directly with the farmers, disregarding the volatile US Coffee C price. The blends are curated by the Q grading team of Capricornio purely on flavours.

  • Farmgate is calculated based on the proportions of coffees used to create the blend. It is assumed that farm gate paid to farmers for single lot is fixed with the only variation being the amount of coffees per blend. Farmgate calculated for the other blends are :

    Pioneiro : € 4,73

    Timbó : € 4,54

  • Capricornio’s costs are lower than what they incurred for the singles since the costs associated to sorting loss are lower for blends. The rest of the expenses borne by Capricornio were for grain pro, training and exporting coffees to the Netherlands. The margins for the other blends were as follows :

    Pioneiro : € 0,71

    Timbó : € 0,89

  • International shipping from Santos, Brazil to Rotterdam, Netherlands. It is inclusive of customs, insurance and warehousing costs.

  • Average financing cost owed to (mostly social) lenders. This ensures immediate payment to the farmers when the coffee leaves the farm or port.

  • A standard TSU premium on all coffees designated exclusively to accelerate farmers’ own regenerative agriculture projects. Read about the work done by Capricornio on creating an integrated pest management.

  • This Side Up compensation for spending time and resources importing this coffee. Our work includes year-round contact with producers, managing export, shipping, import, warehousing, grading, sampling, finding and keeping roasting partners for Capricornio. € 1,65 is This Side Up’s Model 1 markup. For a full overview of our modular margin construction, see the Trade Models page.

 

Key Achievements

  • 2017: production of the Signature lots begins for This Side Up partner and roasters.

    2018: The signatures lot become a round success in Europe. We experience a high demand for these very special lots.

    2019: Capricornio becomes our biggest supplier. The tailor-made blended lots for roasters turn into a resounding success.

    2020: the full traceability reports created per individual Signature blend take us a step forward toward full transparency. In these documents, we learn how much the fazendas contributed in which year to which farmers blended.

    2021: after Maarten's visit and on-site calibration of the coffees, now focusing on three different blends: the Dulce for sweet, thick chocolate and caramel; the Sorocabana for round nutty flavors; and the Piraju for dried berries and a less thick body.

    2022: Signatures now come from an all new “Relationship Line” from Capricornio, established jointly with TSU to show the independence of the C-market. The signatures have been renamed to celebrate this change.

    2023: Continuation of the successful “Relationship Line”, which this year even sold out before the coffee landed in Europe. When visiting the producers in May, TSU is thanked for holding up its promise of providing a direct roaster link.

 

2023-2024 Signature components

PHOTO GALLERY

You may use these images freely to promote the Capricornio Signatures among your customers.

 

WHERE FRONTIERS ARE REINVENTED

When we met Ellen, we were instantly drawn by her passion and humble commitment to coffee, its processes, and the environment. She is the fifth generation of coffee growers in her family, but most of what she now knows and applies to the field she learned by herself and through the technical assistance that Capricornio Coffees offer. When her grandfather passed, and she found herself in charge of the estate, she wondered, "how can I do this right?" and so the adventure began.

With her minimum interference approach, Ellen has been creating quite an impact in her region. Of the 100 hectares that conform her estate, only 23 are for coffee, which grows next to banana, avocado, and eucalyptus. Together with some neighbors and supporting organisations, she's preserving a forest of around 70.000 trees while looking after the river and creating alternative economic sources for the farmers, such as honey. She’s managed to reduce water use and works with natural combatants to pests, like stimulating wasps that eat the eggs of borers.

Ellen entered the specialty coffee market in 2013 and has since experienced steady growth that hasn't come without challenges, such as the frost of 2021. "It was truly exceptional," Ellen shares: "the wind brought the frost and it kind of burned the coffee plants, and especially in the valleys it stuck". About 10% of her trees died. "Climate adversities are something we simply need to live with. Every year, there's something new to face, a new challenge," she says. Because of these reasons, her commitment to preserving the environment is so substantial.

  • In an effort to regenerate and bring broken forests back together, Raízes do Mogi Guaçu (Conservation Roots) in alliance with Copaíba, and the WWF, and around ten coffee growers, neighbors of Ellen, the Atlantic Forest restoration project was born. As part of this program, Ellen recently planted around 1, 700 native trees. "The other day," she tells us, "as I was driving Isabel to school, I ran into a small jaguar. We had never seen one so close, and since this project started, more animals are showing up."

    To learn more about Ellen’s efforts and what the Conservation Project is about, visit this link on Youtube.

 
 

CULTIVARS

Yellow Catuaí, Mundo Novo, Obatã, Yellow Bourbon.

Elevation

1.350 meters


NOTABLE

Fazenda Fronteiras’ total extension is 100 hectares; 21% is destined for coffee; 20% is forest and the rest is a wild area that Ellen hopes to populate with a biodiverse mix of trees.

A switch to organic fertiliser is on its way, much of the composting on the estate is done with the manure from their own cows, banana peels, avocado peels, and others.

PROCESSING

Natural : cherries are semi-automatically harvested in the estate and soon after dried. Coffee is then driven to the neighboring farm 7 Senhoras, where the hulling process is done. Then the parchment returns to Fazenda Fronteira where it is packed to be driven to Capricornio Coffees, where the color sorting and quality control process concludes.

Cupping Notes

2024 HARVEST

Access our cupping reports of landed samples through the links below

Capricornio - Fazenda Fronteira estate lot - natural

Key Achievements

  • 2020: first connection between This Side Up and Ellen Fontana.

    2021: first export to This Side Up.

    2022: Ellen sells her coffee under her own brand and name for the first time to the European market.

    2023: The This Side Up team visits and brings along a coffee bag with her name, bringing tears to her eyes. “It’s a dream come true”. Later in the year, Ellen comes second in the regional coffee quality competition of the Circuito das Aguas Paulistas (São Paulo).

 

  • The price you pay for Fazenda Fronteira natural p/kg. We agreed on this price directly with the farmers, disregarding the volatile US Coffee C price.

  • Capricornio buys unsorted green beans (all grades) from farmers and this is defined as farm gate price and is paid to them per 60 kg bag.

  • Capricornio incurs cost to sort all grades of green coffee purchased from the farmer into different lots under the specialty grade spectrum like single farmer lots, blends, nano/micro lots and competition lots. Other costs borne by Capricornio include dry milling, grain pro, small holder training fee and exporter charges for sorting, shipping the coffees to the Netherlands.

  • International shipping from Santos, Brazil to Rotterdam, Netherlands. It is inclusive of customs, insurance and warehousing.

  • Average financing cost owed to (mostly social) lenders. This ensures immediate payment to the farmers when the coffee leaves the farm or port.

  • A standard TSU premium on all coffees designated exclusively to accelerate farmers’ own regenerative agriculture projects.Read about the work done by Capricornio on creating an integrated pest management system for all their coffee partners.

  • This Side Up compensation for spending time and resources importing this coffee. Our work includes year-round contact with producers, managing export, shipping, import, warehousing, grading, sampling, finding and keeping roasting partners for Capricornio. € 1,65 is This Side Up’s Model 1 markup. For a full overview of our modular margin construction, see the Trade Models page.

 

CONTACT ELLEN FONTANA

Ellen Fontana is happy to answer your questions and speaks both English and Portuguese:

MANAGER Ellen Fontana

EMAIL  ellen@fontanacafesespeciais.com.br

TEL +55 (19) 99668-7026

WEBPAGE | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK

 

PHOTO GALLERY

You may use these images freely to promote Fazenda Fronteira among your customers.

 

WOMAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AT ITS BEST

Back in 2013, these smallholder fazendas in Matão, in the north of the Paraná state, didn’t look quite the way they do today. The farms produced for the commodity market, the returns were small, and the focus was on making ends meet. When the local agricultural association presented a program for diversity and promotion of agricultural products, the women - all being part of the same local soccer team - met over a cup of coffee and decided that this is something they could do as well - this was the start of the Mulheres Do Café do Matão. They started off small and their round table meetings in the local football canteen were key in forming statutes such as equality in say: regardless of size, those with one hectare have as much to say as those with ten hectares of farmland.

Three years in, the group came on the radar of Capricornio Coffees, who were impressed by the coffee quality, organisation and motivation of this group, and especially that they achieved this level without any thorough agronomical education. With visits of the Capricornio agronomist every 60 days to discuss what needs to happen in which season, coffee quality has been going up every year. Today, it’s at astounding specialty coffee levels, all while applying uncommon permaculture practices such as intercropping coffee with corn, beans and nitrogen fixing grasses. The women produce just over 300 bags of this fine produce every year, and recently started with funky processing lots. The journey of these twenty-two women has just begun...

  • When Maarten visited Brazil in the last months of 2020, Luiz of Capricornio suggested he’d visit the “Women in Coffee” in Matão. He though it’d be a good match for This Side Up - and indeed, his judgment seemed to be on point. Maarten felt immediately in love with this warm group of women of all ages, and was amazed by the diverse landscape and unity of the group. With the women all being either the mothers, daughters or even granddaughters of smallholder families that own in between 1 to 15 hectares per family, it looks and feels like a cooperative structure one would expect in central Africa. The farmers don’t do just coffee - most of the farms dedicate around 30 to 40% to coffee, the rest for produce for own consumption or local market sales. This produce consists of bananas, beans, corn and lettuce, but also exotic fruits like passion fruit and papaya, and some families even have a couple of cows for the milk and later on, for the meat. It makes the landscape a super diverse patchwork of fields of all kinds - and following Brazilian law, at least 20% of it all is natural untouched forest. Where Brazil often has the reputation of being the country of huge estates with wealthy families owning plots of land the size of small European countries - the Women in Matão show a very different and very pleasant picture of female family values, standing for the local community, working in a biodiverse landscape, and working together to obtain top quality.

    After Maarten’s first visit in 2020, he went back in 2021 to tell the news that This Side Up would buy 110 bags of the group’s coffee, and 40 half-bags of Maristela’s special fermentation processed coffee. The women responded amazed and extremely happy - This Side Up being the first buyer they directly knew and could talk to - and one that would represent them and their coffee in far-away countries. “A dream come true.” and “This is what we have been working towards with all the amazing help of Capricornio’s agronomist Wesley.” The excitement to be involved with the entire value chain opened a lot more dreams, dreams of going with the entire group to exquisite coffee shops in Paris, London, Amsterdam to see their coffee of little Matão being presented to the world.

 
 

CULTIVARS

Red Catuai, Yellow Catuai, Obatã, Arara, Sarchimor.


Elevation

650 - 850 meters above sea level.


NOTABLE

Woman like Maristela have also managed to start processing and exporting micro lots of special processes after undergoing extensive training program from IDR-PR. She and her husband have also won 1st prize in different categories in the Paraná Quality Contest for excellent cup quality (Read more about it here).Next to selling green coffee, the women have developed their own local brand, with two distinct lines. One is a commodity coffee line, which they roast themselves at the village. The specialty coffee line is roasted in a nearby town by a professional roaster. It makes them understand the language of roasting, marketing and selling their end products. 

PROCESSING

Honey : semi mechanically picked, wet mill pulped and then honey dried on African beds in a plastic greenhouse, where temperature and humidity are controlled and the coffees are raked every couple hours.

Natural fermentation : selective harvesting, partly semi mechanically picked, partly fully manually picked. Cherries moved to the wet mill to separate based on density, but no milling. The cherries are moved to a dark, plastic hot house where they cherry ferment for a few days in piles on an African bed. After this, they go to the wet mill to remove the cherry, before moving to the African beds in the big green house to finish drying as a honey.

Cupping Notes

2024 HARVEST

Access our cupping reports of landed samples through the links below

Capricornio-Mulheres do café matão coop lot - honey

 

  • The price you pay for Mulheres do Café Matão coop lot - honey p/kg. We agreed on this price directly with the farmers, disregarding the volatile US Coffee C price.

  • Capricornio buys unsorted green beans (all grades) from farmers and this is defined as farm gate price and is paid to them per 60 kg bag. Farmers can get a higher price for special processes. Capricornio pays a higher farm gate premium for nano, micro lots and other special processes.

  • Capricornio incurs cost to sort all grades of green coffee purchased from the farmer into different lots under the specialty grade spectrum like single farmer lots, blends, nano/micro lots and competition lots. Other costs borne by Capricornio include dry milling, grain pro, small holder training fee and exporter charges for sorting, shipping the coffees to the Netherlands.

    The negative margin reflects the loss incurred by Women in Coffee group and Capricornio because the costs to produce a bag were significantly higher than agreed FOB. The increase in cost of production is influenced by local prices and expensive inputs compared to last year.

  • International shipping from Santos, Brazil to Rotterdam, Netherlands. It is inclusive of customs, insurance and warehousing costs.

  • Average financing cost owed to (mostly social) lenders. This ensures immediate payment to the farmers when the coffee leaves the farm or port.

  • A standard TSU premium on all coffees designated exclusively to accelerate farmers’ own regenerative agriculture projects. Read about the work done by Capricornio on creating an integrated pest management system for all their coffee partners.

  • This Side Up compensation for spending time and resources importing this coffee. Our work includes year-round contact with producers, managing export, shipping, import, warehousing, grading, sampling, finding and keeping roasting partners for Capricornio. 1,65 is This Side Up’s Model 1 markup. For a full overview of our modular margin construction, see the Trade Models page.

 

Key Achievements

  • 2020: first connection between This Side Up and the group with Maarten’s visit to the cooperative.

    2021: first export to This Side Up, being their first importer they know directly and represents the Mulheres do Cafe Matão group as an agent overseas. Including the “single farmer lot” of Maristela, who has been trained one-on-one by Capricornio’s founder Luiz to enable to produce special fermentation lots.

    2022: our relationships become stronger and our second export occurs with nice shifts, such as the Relationships collaboration. Also, their water saving system is put into action.

    2023: This Side Up visits together with roasters, who have been buying from the group directly. It’s a personal highlight for Maarten, who in the words of the women “kept his word and would marry them to European roasters”. Maristela said: “For me, the biggest highlight in 2023 was welcoming you here on my property, it is very gratifying to welcome buyers of our coffees from the other side of the world, this is wonderful for us small family farming producers”.

 

CONTACT MULHERES DO CAFE MATÃO 

The current president of the Women in Coffee Group in Matão Tomazina is Silvana Souza. For the special fermentation process, it’s Maristela’s coffee. They both speak only Portuguese. 

MANAGER Silvana Souza / Maristela de Fatima

EMAIL  mulheresdocafematao@gmail.com

TEL +55 43 8853 4010 / +55 43 8813 0272

FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM

 

PHOTO GALLERY

You may use these images freely to promote the women of Matão among your customers.

 

FINDING TRUE COOPERATIVISM

“Look, down there, the wooden house. That used to be our house. The last few years we built this new, stone house. It happened since we got more money for our coffee. Since we understand how to improve quality.” says Donizete, a farmer in the region of São Jerônimo da Serra in Paraná, Brazil. His coffee plants look big, healthy. A few farms down the road we find Juarez, he explains that before he didn’t know anything about specialty coffee. “You know, coffee was just coffee. Now we have specialty coffee, and it is more every year. The plants are healthier, the yield is higher, the quality is better. As as a result, we live better.”

It is the core of the Four Seasons Program of agronomists of Capricornio Coffees, where they explain to smallholder farmers what to do every season, to gain the best coffee results. It’s an accelerator, an upward cycle of development, and giving farmers control and power of their own means. It’s such a powerful system, that in the region where Donizete and Juarez live, it unites farmers to work together, and create a local identity. It’s a sharp contrast with how the region used to unite itself before: via a cooperative that did not have much support, high overhead costs and little market access for good prices. The community connection died and the drive to produce a product you’re proud of with it. Selling directly, and connecting yourselves to local friends and friends far away, really proves to be the core of true cooperativism. It’s an upward cycle we’re very proud to support, being the first direct international buyer of this “new” community.

 
 

CULTIVARs

Mondo Novo, Obatã, Yellow Catuaí, IPR 107.

Elevation

800 to 1100 meters above sea level.

NOTABLE

Ten members of a badly managed cooperative decided to join forces and break free from the impossible protocols, bureaucracy, and fees a very large cooperative demanded from them. In 2021, after years of quality improvements and assistance provided by the Four Seasons Project of Capricornio, they exporter directly to the European market for the first time.


PROCESSING

The coffees are naturals, dried on farm. Depending on the rainfall during the season, mechanical dryers are used to ensure a steady drying process. Milling from parchment to green coffee happens in the region, and afterwards the green coffee “of all qualities” is transported to Capricornio Coffees. At their facilities in Ourinhos, a state of the art color sorter separates the qualities which are then continuously checked by a team of internationally trained Q-graders.

Cupping Notes

Browse through our Tastify Archives on Google Drive.

 

  • The price you pay for São Jerônimo da Serra coop lot - honey p/kg. We agreed on this price directly with the farmers, disregarding the volatile US Coffee C price.

  • Capricornio buys unsorted green beans (all grades) from farmers and pays them per 60 kg bag of coffee. Farmers can get a higher price for special processes. Capricornio pays a higher farm gate premium for nano, micro lots and other special processes.

  • Capricornio incurs cost to sort all grades of green coffee purchased from the farmer into different lots under the specialty grade spectrum like single farmer lots, blends, nano/micro lots and competition lots. Other costs borne by Capricornio include dry milling, grain pro, small holder training fee and exporter charges for sorting, shipping the coffees to the Netherlands. The negative margin reflects the loss incurred by São Jerónimo da Serra group and Capricornio because the costs to produce a bag were significantly higher than agreed FOB. The increase in cost of production is influenced by local prices and expensive inputs compared to last year.

  • International shipping from Santos, Brazil to Rotterdam, Netherlands. It is inclusive of customs, insurance and warehousing costs.

  • Average financing cost owed to (mostly social) lenders. This ensures immediate payment to the farmers when the coffee leaves the farm or port.

  • A standard TSU premium on all coffees designated exclusively to accelerate farmers’ own regenerative agriculture projects.Read about the work done by Capricornio on creating an integrated pest managemen

  • This Side Up compensation for spending time and resources importing this coffee. Our work includes year-round contact with producers, managing export, shipping, import, warehousing, grading, sampling, finding and keeping roasting partners for Capricornio. € 1,65 is This Side Up’s Model 1 markup. For a full overview of our modular margin construction, see the Trade Models page.

 

Key Achievements

  • 2021: first connection between This Side Up and São Jerônimo.

    2022: Maarten visits São Jerônimo farm members and discusses future steps, this is the first importer they know directly. They export through This Side Up for the first time.

    2023: The This Side Up team visits, this time bringing European roasters with them. The direct relationships between farmer and roaster are established.

 

PHOTO GALLERY

You may use these images freely to promote São Jerónimo da Serra among your customers.