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The Alves Ribeiro family and Sitio São Bartolomeu: a life story.
The story of this family of coffee producers begins in 1994 when Mr. Sebastião Alves Ribeiro and Mrs. Regina Teixeira de Oliveira Alves inherited only 4 hectares of land in the Mantiqueira de Minas mountains. This was the birth of Sítio São Bartolomeu.
Already married, the two youths began planting coffee on those high lands, with much effort and desire to succeed. Soon the were a family, with the arrival of Mateus and soon after of Miguel. They had to work even more, as they had children to raise and educate. Of parents, with little schooling, wanted their children to be able to study more. And they achieved this. Today Mateus and Miguel have completed most of their schooling.
As the family grew, Sebastião and Regina also felt the need to grow: with hard work, they managed to acquire more land to plant coffee and today they have 20 hectares. Mateus already has his own crows, and Miguel is following in their footsteps: they are coffee producers par excellence. They like what they do and their parents are happy for this.
In 2015, a spectacular turn of events: the Alves Ribeiro family discovered that they had “diamonds” in their hands when they participated in coffee quality contests in the region, as well as in national contests, such as BSCA’s (Brazil Specialty Coffee Association), placing among the best coffees in Brazil.
With the support of COCARIVE (Carmo de Minas Cooperative) and of friends, the Alves Ribeiro family is prepared to continue producing the best coffee possible, as this new stage of their lives is here to stay. They have excellent plans for Sítio São Bartolomeu, located in the south of Minas Gerais, in the high lands of Mantiqueira in the city of Lambari, MG.
Sebasitão and his family have been discovering the wealth of its production in recent times. Producing specialty coffee has become their mission.
They intend to continue on this journey, with effort, hard work and divine help.
Coffee processing system
The coffee processing system is natural. The coffee is harvested from June to September, the family itself doing the picking, transporting it daily and doing the “screening” on the patio after this. The patio is cement. There is no dryer, nor a washer/separator. The family itself dries the coffee on this patio. It is stored in dry cherries in granaries on the farm. Recently production started being sent to COCARIVE for storage. Processing of the production is done by third parties who provide this service in the São Bartolomeu neighborhood.
Concern about quality
The coffee is picked at over 70% ripeness. It is transported daily for drying on cement patios. It is raked continually for more even drying. After drying, the production is stored. After drying, the production is stored in dry cherries for more than 30 days, for later processing; this is at a moisture level around 11%. All crop treatments necessary to production are done, such as fertilization, soil correction, control of pests and diseases, etc.
The region where Sítio São Bartolomeu is located, Mantiqueira de Minas, has an elevation that reaches 1800 m. The climate is temperate, with low temperatures in the winter, good rainfall, with an average of 1200 mm per year, and a characteristics dry period during the harvest, which favors the quality of the coffee there.
Rank | 29 |
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Farm Name | Fazenda São Bartolomeu |
Farmer/Rep. | Sebastião Alves Ribeiro |
Country | Brazil Naturals |
Year | 2015 |
Size (30kg boxes) | 57 |
City | Lambari |
Region | Minas Gerais |
Program | Brazil Naturals 2015 December |
Month | December |
Aroma/Flavor | Blackberry, anise, melon, orange, cinnamon, vanilla, winey |
Acidity | Structured, citric, tartaric, malic |
Other | Silky, thick, full bodied |
Farm Size | - |
Auction Lot Size (lbs.) | 3790 |
High bid | 4.00 |
Total value | 15079.62 |
High bidders | Maruyama Coffee Co., Ltd. |