Brazil - Sao Benedito

We have been buying coffee from Marcio since 2022 and were able to meet him for the first time in July and August of 2025.

During our visit we made our final selections for the year ahead, which included some prime picks from Marcio's family farm Rancho Sao Benedito. The entrance to the farmhouse proudly displays Marcio’s awards from the Cup of Excellence and other competitions - the shelves and walls are literally covered with trophies! 

During the visit we learned that Marcio’s 98 year old mother Mariala is still involved in the day-to-day operations at the farm. After some delicious coffees to welcome us he gave a tour of the ranch, finishing at the highest part of the farm, where the naturals are drying on raised beds - the altitude here tops out around 1600 MASL.

Sao Benedito was sourced with the help of our partners in Brazil, Cocarive. Cocarive are a co-operative that began in 1961; their work with members has resulted in numerous awards, including over 350 in Cup of Excellence competitions (holding the highest score ever awarded in any competition until very recently - 95.18 in 2014).

Cocarive have also been instrumental in placing Mantiqueira as the first region of Brazil to be issued a protected ‘denomination of origin’.

Co-op members coffees are picked and processed on their farms, before being brought to the Cocarive warehouse which is just outside São Lourenço. Coffees are then rigorously cupped and QC'd under the guidance of Wellington Pereira, AKA ‘Baba’ - a former Brazilian cupping Champion and a true force of nature! Baba was our host and it's safe to say we were in very good company.

Having spent a week with the team at Cocarive we found a cooperative valuing excellence, education, and family and left with the proud feeling of being some small part of a strong coffee community.

Brazil is the biggest producer of arabica coffee in the world; with 25 counties in the region and 7,800 producers - 89% of which are smallholders. 

The Serra de Mantiqueira stretch across the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. Located in the Minas Gerais state, the Mantiqueira de Minas area was the first to get a geographical indication in the Brazilian coffee industry. This fresh approach, akin to ‘terroir’ in the wine industry, began to redefine how people viewed specialty coffee from Brazil. 

In Mantiqueira you'll see the lower altitudes will often be grazed by cattle, the generally steeper slopes (compared to other parts of the state) mean that the near ubiquitous mechanisation of the coffee industry in Brazil is much less commonly seen here, where hand picking is more prevalent. 

One of the other unique and significant features of the landscape is reflected in it’s name, which from the indigenous Tupi-Guarani word Amantikir, best translated as “the mountains that cry” - a reference to the abundance of natural springs that flow through the region. As such, the area is one of the most important sources of drinking water in Brazil’s South-East.

Mantiqueira comprises 69,500 hectares and altitude ranges from 900 to 1,500 masl, with a predominance of yellow varieties over the more typical red. All coffees are minimum 84 SCA points as part of the denomination and many enter the late harvest Cup of Excellence in Brazil.