Brazil Patrocinio Fazenda Paraiso

Fazenda Paraiso is a farm operated by Amarildo Jose Borges, and his wife Rosemary. The farm is located in Carmo do Paranaiba, and we had the pleasure of visiting them this past August. Paraiso sits at a modest 1050 meters above sea level, and is planted in Catuaí and Paraiso varieties. The farm is 208 hectares total, 116 of which are planted in coffee. Much of the rest is either forest reserve, or pasture for their 1000 head of cows. Their family are real animal lovers, and in fact, they currently have 30 dogs, and just about as many horses too! They are actually part of a local horse board, and Amarildo's family have a competitive team of riders who have brought home many medals that they proudly display at the farm (you can see those medals in the second photo). The care and attention they give farm, mill, and all of the animals was very apparent. He's also very resourceful, and creates his own organic fertilizer from coffee husk and cow manure. The coffee is both mechanically and hand-harvested at the farm, and typically dried for 10-12 days on cement patios, though the final strip-pick is finished in mechanical dryers to remove detritus that comes from that type of harvesting method. They mostly processing dry process coffee at Paraiso, though they have been experimenting with small batches of anaerobic too.