Brazil - Edson Tamekuni

Variety: Mundo Novo, Red and Yellow Catuai

Processing: Natural

Elevation: 1150 MASL

About Edson Tamekuni

This is the Cerrado Mineiro region of Minas Gerais; an area best described as a high-altitude savannah, and best known as the carrot capital of Brazil. In addition to producing nearly half of the country’s carrots, this region also grows onions, garlic, onion, potatoes….and coffee.

Coffee was the most recent to join the party, starting in the 1970’s. Quality has always been high, but the coffee has never made it to export before being bulked, and has traded at commodity. But now, a new generation of farmers has returned to talk about ‘specialty coffee’.

The history of the Tamekuni family in coffee production is quite similar to many Japanese families that migrated to Brazil in the beginning of the last century.

Edson’s father, Mr. Takayuki Tamekuni, succeeded in the family farming activities. After a hard and long time in plantations in São Paulo and Paraná, they planted the first coffee trees in their farm in the city of Campos Altos in 1985.
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Edson says that coffee has always been part of his life since childhood and remembers when he was five and planted the first coffee trees at Poções Farm. Since 2004, he has been directly working with it. Throughout his life, he’s always been together with his father in coffee activities and always imagined himself working with coffee.
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After the acquisition of Vargem Grande Farm in 2016, he decided to focus this farm on quality, as the property and the previous owner already had a history of producing quality coffee and received some illy quality awards for its pulped natural coffee.
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The secret for producing specialty coffee, according to Edson, is the awareness of everything that happens on the farm. He sees himself working in multiple functions, as owner, manager, and employee. He’s in charge of coffee plantation inputs management, harvesting, post-harvesting, lot formation, and coffee delivery at the coop.
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Tamekuni’s achievements: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Cup of Excellence Winner (2016)
1st place Natural category Coffee Quality Awards of Minas Gerais (2017)
1st place Coopadap Coffee Quality Awards (2017)
2nd place Coopadap Coffee Quality Awards (2016)
Finalist at illy Awards 2016/17