Single Estate, Fazenda Samambaia, Brazil

The cool, green hills of Sul de Minas provide ideal
conditions for coffee growing and produce some of Brazil’s finest beans. The
region is known locally as ‘Vertentes’ because it forms a border between two
very important basins in Brazil: the Grande River Basin (which runs to the
south) and the São Francisco River Basin (which runs to the northeast).

Henrique Dias Cambraia, the owner of Fazenda Samambaia,
attributes the success of his farm to a combination of various factors, not
least: the farm’s geographic location; competent technical management of the
plantations, with individualised phytosanitary controls of the planting fields;
constant training based on total quality control programs; and, most
importantly, the involvement of the whole team that works on the farm.

Henrique is committed not only to producing high-quality
coffee but to farming in a way that is socially responsible and environmentally
sustainable. He is happy to say that, during his absence from the farm between
March 2000 and July 2001—when he was studying towards a Master's degree in
International Business in Phoenix, Arizona—his employees demonstrated that they
fully understood and were capable of upholding the Samambaia concept of
sustainability.

The farms of the Dias Cambraia family have been receiving
technical assistance from Agronomist Josué Pereira de Figueiredo, PhD, for over
ten years. Dr. Figueiredo was the technical coordinator of the Brazilian Coffee
Institute (IBC) and was also a Cup of Excellence finalist in 2001 and 2015.
Henrique also regularly attends events organised by the Association of the
Coffee Producers of Southern Minas Gerais (Sulminas-Café) and other similar
bodies to ensure that the Dias Cambraia farms remain at the forefront of new
technologies and techniques.

Recently, Henrique Dias Cambraia was elected President of
Sulminas-Café. Together with 20 other coffee producers from the Santo Antônio
do Amparo region, he founded the Santo Antônio Estate Coffee to build
relationships with the specialty coffee market.

Fazenda Samambaia has won many awards for its high-quality
coffee, including the Cup of Excellence.