Roaster's Notes: This CO2 processed decaf has very tasty milk chocolate notes with a golden syrup sweetness and pear fruitiness. A great example of well rounded Brazilian coffee.

Farm Info
Producer: Ana Cecilia Velloso
Region: Cerrado Mineiro
Background Information

Onze Mil Virgens has been in Ana Cecilia Velloso’s family for four generations. Although she is an architect by training, her relationship with coffee started at birth. Her great-grandfather, Miguel Veloso, was a pioneer in the Carmo do Paranaiba region. When he first established São Luiz Estate (of which Onze Mil Virgens is part) in 1969, the Cerrado Mineiro was agriculturally underdeveloped and there was no coffee to be found. Manoel Veloso dos Reis, Ana’s grandfather, was also a pioneer. He took over from his father, strengthened the family’s legacy, and founded the town’s first agricultural cooperative. He was also the first to implement drip irrigation and to work with pulped naturals in the region.

The family has long been acknowledged for its quality in coffee production, but the reputation didn’t immediately correlate to commercial recognition. Ana’s direct involvement with the farm started in 2013, and since then she and her brother, Lucio Velloso (who has worked on the farm since 1998), have followed in their ancestors’ pioneering footsteps. As fourth-generation farmers, they have had to balance traditional insight with the demands of today’s market. They set their sights on the specialty coffee market, but they realised the high natural quality of their coffee wasn’t going to be enough. Innovation (just as in their great-grandfather’s and grand-father’s days) was going to be the key to success.

The first step in innovation was to develop a business plan! Ana and her brother set about formulating a Development Plan, a Business Model, and a Brand Strategy – a fully modernized business approach. In doing so, they honed their vision and established their purpose. This allowed them to act with more direction and to take further steps towards quality.

The second step in innovation was with regards to technology. The family has always worked based on good agricultural practices looking for an optimal balance of quality, productivity and cost. Farm management is highly professionalised, and waste is eliminated wherever possible. In order to improve systems even further, the family has begun annual quality mapping, so that they know where on the farm the best coffee comes from. This helps them with the planning of post-harvest activities. They have established a field specifically for experimental varieties. They also invite manufacturers to test new agricultural products and machinery with them, so that they can be at the cutting edge of farming. Finally, the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning software has enabled them to monitor costs and administration, thus maximising efficiency and productivity. Prioritizing innovation in this way is expensive, Ana admits; however, in the long term, it makes the farm financially sustainable.

On Onze Mil Virgens, just as in the rest of the region, harvesting is mostly mechanised. The farm has plots of Yellow and Red Catuaí, Red Catucaí, Yellow Icatú, IPR 100, and Arará. Every lot is separated according to its varietal, and the harvest is planned and executed with preference to maintaining single varietal lots. The priority with every harvest is to undergo a selective mechanical harvest where the maximum ratio of mature coffee is harvested. The team at São Luiz have been thoroughly trained so as to ensure that the ripest cherries are picked and so as to minimise the selection of under-ripe beans. Selective manual harvesting is done in the younger coffee plantations, such as on Lot 33, where this particular lot of Red Catuaí was grown.

Generally, the coffee processing method is defined after the quality mapping analysis that is conducted before harvest. Once the best performing lots are identified, the post-harvest processing is defined. Usually most of the harvested coffee will be delivered to the wet mill to separate immature fruits and floaters from the denser, ripe cherries. The ripe cherries will then undergo the Semi washed (Pulped natural) or Fully washed process. In cases where the vast majority of the harvested cherries are ripe, the coffee will be placed directly onto patios for sun-dried Natural processing.

Coffees coming from Lot 33 this year surprised Ana and her team with the amount of sweet, sticky mucilage that remained after the skin was removed. Due to this observation, the team decided to use a modified honey process, where the mucilage is kept entirely intact, rather than placing the coffee in the demucilager. This particular lot was taken to the patio and spread in a thin layer, one bean thick, for sun-drying. The coffee stayed one week on the patio and was regularly turned so as to prevent over fermentation. After a week, the layer was made thicker so as to slow down moisture loss. When it reached the proper humidity levels, it was taken directly to warehouse, where it was kept in parchment for 60 days. This lot was not finished in mechanical driers.

The final (but perhaps most important) step in Ana’s innovations involves working relationships on the farm. Currently their team consists of 28 members – some of whom have been working on the farm since her grandfather’s time. An additional 40 individuals are brought on during the harvest season. The Farm Manager, Fausto do Espírito Santo Velloso, has a very close relationship with the senior staff. They include his childhood friends and his godson’s parents. On the weekends he meets them to talk, not about work, but about family events. For Ana and her family, this approach doesn’t just make the farm a nice place to work, it is also important for ensuring crop quality. It means that everyone working on the farm is motivated and invested in the farm’s success. They believe in Sao Luiz and what it stands for.

However, it is also true that good relationships don’t happen without work. As such, the farm highly values investing in their workers. They hold regular workshops and training sessions. They pay attention to how their team operates. And they also strive to create personal value and quality of life based on what their staff tell them that they need.

Surely, even knowing all this about such an amazing farm, most people will still wonder ‘Why the name?’ Onze Mil Virgens means ‘Eleven Thousand Virgins’ – a pretty racy name for a coffee farm! What people in the region say is that Onze Mil Virgens previously belonged to a bigger farm in Rio Paranaíba rural area that had around 11,000 acres. It was a ‘Virgen’ forest (Cerrado biome) at the time. When it was divided into many farm lots, the parcels that got separated into Onze Mil Virgens kept the moniker. Slightly less racy but still pretty great.

Onze Mil Decaf, Brazil

Founded in 2015 by Luke Underdown (pictured centre), Garage Coffee is a speciality coffee roasters based in the beautiful village of Hoath, just outside of Canterbury, Kent. Owner & Founder Luke identified a gap in the market to bring great coffee to the people of Kent, and started of trading at local markets and events to build the Garage brand. By 2016, Garage Coffee had gained a significant following and started to supply some wonderful hospitality businesses across the county.

In 2017, Garage Coffee opened it's flagship shop and training room in the heart of Canterbury, just off the high street and now has a small team making great coffee and sharing the same vision!

We roast in small 3kg batches for optimum quality, and only roast speciality grade coffees which are always fully traceable and fairly traded. Since launching, we have been building relationships with farmers, and sourcing coffee from the same farms season after season, with plans to make trips to these farmers in the near future!

And finally, why Garage Coffee?  Well, we are not actually based in a garage. But that's where it all started! Our roastery is situated on a campsite in Hoath and Luke had plans to convert a garage on site into a wonderful roasting labrynth - however it was just a little too close to the campers! So, he decided to source a shipping container and convert into a roastery! As 'Shipping Container Coffee' didn't quite have the same ring - he decided to stick with 'Garage Coffee', and 

Onze Mil Decaf, Brazil

0.0

Onze Mil Decaf, Brazil