Description

About the Aguiar family

The Aguiar family has been lovingly growing coffee for nine generations.
It all started in 1860 when the Aguiar family started growing coffee in Santo Antônio do Amparo, in the south of Minas Gerais, a region famous for its coffee production. The first chapter of Fazenda Semente was written in the 1970s, when Edmundo Coutinho Aguiar’s father and grandfather packed their bags and moved to Patrocínio in Cerrado Mineiro. He planted his first coffee trees in 1988 on an area of 24 hectares.

The Aguiar family is still proudly growing coffee on the same farm as all those years ago, but on a larger production area. Today, Fazenda Semente is run by Virgínia Coutinho Aguiar and her children José Lucas, Maria Vitória and Eugênia. They continue their work with unbreakable passion, dedication and respect for the cherries they produce, while at the same time bowing to traditional farming practices and adopting new technologies and approaches to sustainable business. The result is a combination of modernity and tradition that ensures quality in every cup.

Fazenda Semente is located at 950 metres above sea level, just outside Patrocínio, in the Alto Paranaíba region of Minas Gerais, a privileged terroir for the production of specialty coffee. More than one million coffee trees grow on 226 hectares of fully irrigated land.

Catuaí, Mundo Novo, Arara, Topázio, Bourbon, Geisha and other 100% Arabica coffees go through careful post-harvest stages (natural, natural pulp, wash, honey, fermentation) in search of unique and surprising lots and sensory profiles. Special micro lots are selectively harvested to ensure standardisation of the fruit and maximum use of the beans.

Since 2016, the farm has been certified with the international Rainforest Alliance, 4C and Cerrado Mineiro Region Seals, the world’s first Designation of Origin for coffee. The certificates confirm the family’s care for the environment. A preserved ecological corridor runs through the farm, allowing the local flora and fauna to flourish. In addition, the Aguiar family produces its own organic compost from reused organic coffee residues and has installed solar panels on its processing facilities to generate its own electricity.