Lot 6: Fazenda Serra das Três Barras

Fazenda Serra das Três Barras emerged from the division of the bicentennial Fazenda das Três Barras, traditionally dedicated to the production of extremely high quality coffees. The area where the coffee was produced now belongs to José Wagner Ribeiro Junqueira, and makes up a familial group, together with his three sons, Kleber, Ralph and Herbert de Castro Junqueira, and his wife, Margarida Maria de Castro Junqueira. The family has
e compõe um grupo familiar, juntamente com seus três filhos – Kleber, Ralph e Herbert de Castro Junqueira – e sua esposa – Margarida Maria de Castro Junqueira. The family has a cultivated area of 160 hectares of coffee of various varieties distributed among the six properties that make up the group, which is headquartered at the rechristened Fazenda Serra das Três Barras, were all the coffee produced are processed and prepared, amounting to a total annual production of around 3500 bags.
The family’s coffee fields are on fertile soils, with elevations varying from 1100 to 1400 meters, in the relief typical of the Mantiqueira Mountains, mild temperatures throughout the year and annual rainfall ranging from 1700 to 2200 mm, with well-defined seasons. Seeking to develop coffee cultivation, the principal activity, always in constant harmony with nature, José Wagner Ribeiro Junqueira’s family searches for all means to vigorously preserve the areas of native forest and the many springs on their properties.
Living almost exclusively from farming for eight generations, Fazenda Serra das Três Barras nowadays relies on the collaboration of eight direct employees and their families and, also, on the services of another thirty workers during the harvest, when there is a great demand for labor.
The coffee are picked by hand at the most favorable and propitious moments over suitable cloths to avoid contact with the ground. They are taken on the same day to the drying patio and, if necessary, are brought to the mechanical dryer to complete drying. After this, they are deposited in rest boxes to rest for a period of 30 to 60 days. After being processed, the coffees are forwarded to Cocarive’s warehouses where they are analyzed and prepared according to market demands.
Seeking quality in the coffees produced, without, however, giving up productivity, the farm relies on the highly technical assistance provided by Cocarive in an important partnership with Emater-MG.
Fazenda Serra das Três Barras is Certifica Minas (the Minas Gerais state coffee certification program). As a result of the incessant search for quality, the family has won many awards in diverse quality competitions in Brazil.