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It was the year of 1969 when three entrepreneur friends scheduled a trip to visit the interior of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais, to know the promising orange sector at the time. The last stop of the group was on the quiet city of Alfenas, with a little over 25.000 people. When Carlos Moacir, Luiz Cyrillo and Julio Bozano landed on this Typical interior city, surrounded by the Furnas Lake, they visualized a huge project not only on orange, but mostly on coffee. It was the birth of the Condominio Alianca, later renamed as Ipanema Agroindustria S.A.The stage of acquiring lands, implantation of coffee farming and citrus and the assembly of agro-industrial infrastructure extended from 1970 to 1986, when the company achieved the impressive mark of 3.000 hectares of coffee and 3.000 hectares of citrus.
Currently, the Ipanema Coffees is a company focused on commercialization and production of specialty coffees, being today one of the most recognized coffee producers in the whole world, present in over 25 countries. Throughout these 40 years of operation, for each gained market emerged new demands, what made Ipanema be considered a Solution Provider in Specialty Coffee, with several tools and services put at disposal of the clients.
Located on the region of South of Minas, in the city of Alfenas, Fazenda Capoeirinha was in 1969, the first of the proprieties acquired by Ipanema. From its 2.200 hectares of land, 70% are dedicated to producing coffee, while the other 30% are reserved to protection and environmental preservation areas.
Soil: Seated over metamorphic rocks, the soils are clayey, formed from crystalline basement rocks, rich in decomposable minerals, which grants it a great capacity of water retention.
Weather: The region has a mild subtropical weather, with wet and rainy summers and dry winters, propitious for the maturation of the coffee. The summer temperatures oscillate around 75.2°F and the winter ones, around 64.4°F, being able to reach negative temperatures on severe winters. The average rainfall is about 1.440 mm per year (average of the last 10 years).

Coffee processing system

The department of quality has determined the glebe that would be chosen, considering the altitude and variety most adequate for a special coffee lot.
The harvest process has been manually done, separating only cherry grains, after picked the coffee went through the washer and later on by the peeler, right after being taken to the drying land, where the grains remained for 13 days until reach the ideal moisture level for storage.

Quality concern

Technical Team: The Ipanema Coffees counts on a group of five agronomist engineers and four agricultural technicians that manage all the agricultural operations and the processing, assuring the guarantee of the total quality of the operations.

Certifications:

UTZ: In 2002, Ipanema reached the status of the first Brazilian company to be certified by the Eurep-Gap code and code UTZ Kapeh. This code evaluates altogether 175 obligatory and additional control points co-related with the management of good agricultural practices, socio-environmental management and total traceability of the lots. Currently, besides following the Standards of the Code of Conduct Utz Certified, Ipanema also follows the Standards of the Chain of Custody of the entity, both audited by IMO-Control from Brazil. In 2004, Ipanema Coffees joined the select group of farms certified according to the program Rainforest Alliance, after hard auditing lawsuit conducted by certifier Imaflora – accredited by SFC (Sustainable Farm Certification). This standard disciplines and promotes the best production practices, simultaneously combining ecosystem protection, fair treatment, good working conditions, and good relationship with the community, integrated management, preservation of the soil and water, and total traceability of processes. Ipanema is also audited periodically and fulfills the requirements of approval of Chain of Custody of the Sustainable Agriculture program Rainforest Alliance. C.A.F.E Practices: In 2003, after recommendation of the independent auditing firm British Institute, Ipanema Coffees became the first south-American company to obtain certification on the program Starbucks Preferred Suppliers, being formally recognized after that as Strategic Supplier of the network. In 2005 the code is reassessed and re-baptized with the name C.A.F.E. Practices. This code is exclusive to the American network Starbucks suppliers, focusing on food security of the product, traceability of the processes, evaluation of the procedures of conservation of environmental resources, in special management of forests. In the last year independent certifier SK Group Sustainable Solutions held the auditing.