Women in Coffee: Simone Borges’ and her journey to success
At Minas Hill we are proud to support Women in Coffee. Maria Simone met Luiz Carlos Borges when she worked as coffee picker. They got married years later and she is proud to say she was the one who planted the very first coffee tree in their small farm. They now have 2 kids and they all work together at the farm every day seeking a better quality of life for the whole family.
Mrs Borges has always been searching for new ways to improve quality and focusing on organic farming. With this in mind, Simone has carried out selective harvesting alone, seeking to achieve more quality and add value to the coffees produced at the Canarinho farm, located at an altitude of 1250m.
Read more about how we support Women in Coffee
We have been supporting the Borges family since 2014. For the micolot we have in stock in Australia this year, alone she took care of all stages from picking to processing. Her coffee stands out by having a fruity and sweet profile, full body and balanced acidity.
HISTORY OF THE FARM – Sitio Canarinho
Location: South of Minas Gerais – Campanha
Region: Mantiqueira de Minas
Total area of the property: 8.00 hectares
Area cultivated with coffee: 7.00 hectares
Lowest altitude: 1200m
Highest altitude: 1270m
The farm was bought in 2002 by Luiz Carlos Borges, Maria Simone’s husband. At the time, there were no coffee plantations, it was an area of native pasture. The owners built a house and moved there with two children, and over these years has been working on the land, forming the coffee plantations that today they occupy a large part of the area, improvements have also been improved, such as the construction of the cement terrace, which has greatly improved the quality of the coffees, working in a family farming regime, each year has been increasing the quality of its coffees in a sustainable way through the support of Emater and Apas and the Certifica Minas Café and Fair Trade program.
Coffees produced by the Borges family has stood out in recent years in several quality contests:
2011: Finalist of the 1°Cup of Excellence Natural Late Harvest, finalist of the Emater contest
2012: Finalist of the 2nd Up of Excellence Natural Late Harvest 2013
2013: Finalist in the international phase of the 14th Cup of Excellence Early Harvest, selected for the 8th Espaço Café Brasil
• Coffee processing system
Dry route
Natural
Cement patio drying
• Concern with quality
Use the Certifica Minas Processes
Drying on a paved patio
Careful drying
Batch separation – Selective harvesting
Rest before processing
FLORADA PREMIADA AWARD – 2020
Grupo 3corações, the largest coffee company in Brazil, believes in the work of women coffee growers and, therefore, created an exclusive project for them, the Florada Project. This initiative has the following main objectives: to give visibility to the work carried out, and for this it has a partnership with the International Alliance of Women in Coffee (IWCA); offer access to the best practices in the production of specialty coffees through the free training platform Florada Educa; recognize and value the Rare Microlots cultivated by them by promoting the Flowered Prize Contest in partnership with BSCA (Brazilian Association of Specialty Coffee) and, finally, connect those who produce with those who consume, as it provides through the campaign “Join if to them” the opportunity for the consumer to take part, since when purchasing one of the Personalized Microlots, 100% of the profit is reverted.
Read more about Florada Premiada HERE
On December 9, 2020, 3corações celebrated the 3rd edition of the Florada Premiada Award through an online event that included the dissemination of all the results. The Florada Premiada Award are comprehensive and inclusive, following the strong inclusion pillar of the Project, as the 3corações Group as a whole opened its doors to market more than 300 microlots with coffee growers from all 100% Arabica coffee producing regions in Brazil . In this edition, the prizes add up to R$100,000 in cash and much more: a seven-day trip on a technical mission for the champions of each category to Colombia with the right to a companion; purchase of lots up to double the price; personalized packaging with the history of each coffee producer through photos, videos and even signatures of each one of them.
In 2020, Maria Simone Borges took the 2nd place on this awards, achieving 90,4 points with this microlot brought to Australia by Minas Hill. This is an unique and exclusive lot, with floral aroma, citric acidity and notes of yellow fruits, peaches, rapadura and honey.
In 2019, Maria Simone took the 1st place on this same award, having reached 92,04 points.