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Fazenda Bela Vista has lands at an altitude that varies between 900 and 1,100 meters, where coffee plantations of the Acaia, Yellow Bourbon, Yellow Catuaí and Oeiras, in addition to Catuaí, are cultivated., The pre-selected lot is from the Catuaí variety. The coffee trees are aged between 1 to 4.5 years.
Fazenda Bela Vista is part of one of the largest coffee producing farms of Southern Minas Gerais, in the 1930s and 1940s. This property was inherited in the 1950s by the parents of the current owner, who at present is in the process of re-implementing the plantation and restoring the coffee processing structure.
While resuming the traditional activities of Fazenda Bela Vista, Venâncio Teixeira Filho's attention is focused on improving the quality of the coffees it produces, not only in the choice of the varieties that are planted in the farm but also in plantations' upkeep.
In the current harvest, since the farm's coffee processing structure that will allow preparing the natural pulped cherry coffee is not yet in full operation, Fazenda Bela Vista had the pre-selected lot processed at Fazenda Cachoeira do Cambuí, whose owners belong to the same family that owned Fazenda Bela Vista.
Coffee processing system
In Fazenda Bela Vista, harvesting is manual, because the topography does not allow its mechanization, however the experimental use of coastal harvesters during the final phase of the 2004 harvest was a success.
The coffee processing structure of Fazenda Cachoeira do Cambuí, where the pre-selected lot was processed consists of a concrete terrace measuring 4,000m2, a washer, a pulper, a rotary drier, and two rotary pre-driers, one for 15,000 liters and another for 10,000 liters, in addition to a suspended and covered terrace with 240m2.
Harvested beans are washed two or three times a day to prevent any type of fermentation. As soon as they leave the washer they are transferred to the pulper, and subsequently to the suspended and covered terrace, where they are placed in thin layers of maximum 3 centimeters to dry, and are rotated an average of 15 times a day. After humidity has been eliminated from the pergamino, the coffee is placed in the rotary pre-driers, where the drying process is completed at the average temperature of 40o C, until it reaches 11.5% humidity.
Fazenda Bela Vista's pre-selected lot was picked during the last days of July and beginning of August 2004. Coffee was received in the beginning and at the end of the afternoon, to be immediately washed. After being pulped, part of the lot was taken to be dried on the suspended terrace and another part on the concrete terrace, where the beans were spread in thin layers (of approximately 3 centimeters) and turned from 15 to 20 times a day. After they were wipe dry, at the end of two days, the coffee was placed in a pre-drier with indirect heat, at temperatures under 40o C and was removed from the terraces when it reached 11.5% humidity. The lot rested for 30 days, before it was transferred to be stored at Cooxupé's warehouse.
Concern with quality
To ensure the highest quality rates possible, Fazenda Bela Vista complies with the most modern handling techniques, from planting to harvesting, although it has not installed all the equipment required to process the cherry beans.
With the same purpose of obtaining the best beans in aroma and flavor, with good aspect, harvesting is performed in the planting fields in which the percentage of green beans is the lowest possible, and the picked coffee remains in the plantations for just a few hours, to avoid affecting the integrity of the beans.
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