"Alto Estates Specialty Coffee"
About Alto Estates
We are Alto Estates - Specialty Coffee, a company created to centralize the productive units of J.C Grossi & Filhos.
The coffee plantations of the Alto Estates are planted at altitudes varying from 840 to 1,140 meters, located in the Cerrado Mineiro Region, a region of singular terroir, that produces some of the best coffees of Brazil for having well-defined climatic seasons, uniform maturity and abundance of sunlight during the harvest season.
All properties are at a maximum 70 kilometers from the city of Patrocínio, which is a large and active commercial coffee-growing center, considered to be the biggest coffee producing region in Brazil.
Our processes
In order to obtain quality consistency in the production of coffees, J.C Grossi & Filhos adopted the strategy of verticalization of production activities and, today, it has the complete domain of the quality control and tracking system of the production processes of our coffees.
- Browse the windows below to know our processes –Coffes Varieties and Nurseries
In the various experimental fields developed by the Grossi Family, the coffee varieties that are best adapted to each farm are chosen. One of the properties, the Chácara Modelo (Experimental Field), in a technical partnership with the MAPA (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply) and the IAC (Campinas Agronomic Institute), is dedicated exclusively to research and development with emphasis on breeding plant programs that seek the best varieties of coffee adapted to the Cerrado Mineiro and that please the demanding taste of the consumers.
Following the selection of the best varieties, seedlings are cultivated on the farms, where the ones with the best development are selected and planted.
Soil Preparation
The Cerrado Mineiro Region presents altitude and climatic conditions ideal for the coffee cultivation, however, it has dystrophic soils, in a way that coffee cultivation uses technologies for corrections and improvements in their fertility.
Soil fertility is corrected by the application of fertilizers from calcareous, magnesian and phosphate rocks, also using organic compounds elaborated in the farms with coffee residues.
Cultivation
The cultivations are carefully planned with the help of professionals who form an experienced and professionalized team of collaborators.
Pest and disease management is done in an integrated way. The employees carry out, in a constant and programmed way, surveys of incidences of pests and diseases. This form of work favors the application of defensive products only in the affected areas, reducing the environmental impact.
It should be emphasized that in the preparation of sprays and in the handling of pesticides there is a special attention to the safety of the worker and the environment.
The control of weeds is done in an ecologically sustainable way, aiming at improving the physical and chemical conditions of the soil and exploiting the work of predatory insects of other insects that infest the crops, reducing the use of chemical pesticides.
Production Technology
Irrigation is a necessary item on some Grossi Family farms. Its use is made in a way to reduce the consumption of water, taking advantage of the water stress of the coffee, irrigating it only in the moments indispensable to the break of this stress, which will guarantee a more uniform flowering and a homogenous harvest.
Harvest
The harvests in the Alto Estates have higher potential of quality, because they happen only when there are 90% of mature grains.
The harvest is made in 70% mechanized way, using harvesters and coffee pickers, working full time, to meet the goal in shorter term.
When harvested, the coffee cherries are immediately processed into one of the 10 washing and pulping units of the group. All coffee harvested is processed, washed, peeled and spread on patios on the same day to avoid risk of loss of quality.
Natural coffees and pulped coffee are processed organically in facilities that consume little or no water and recycle all their solid and liquid waste.
Drying Methods
Firstly, the coffee is pre-dried in the yards where the solar heat reduces the humidity of the bean, and then concludes its drying in the mechanical driers, which guarantee uniformity in the drying. Coffees remain in the driers until they reach 11% humidity.
Drying, finished in the driers, is carried out in three stages to ensure the uniformity of the aspects of the beans, from 40 ° C for pulped coffee and 45 ° C for natural coffees, preserving the qualities of the beans.
Sun-drying and in mechanical driers is used to emphasize the flavor attributes of coffees and ensure their quality in all weather conditions. There are 19 hectares of dry yard and 56 driers in which the humidity is constantly monitored.
It is important that the coffee, after drying, remain stored for at least 30 days to rest, giving the coffee a better homogeneity of drought, highlighting better flavors in the drink. We have the capacity to store about 30,000 bags of coffee on parchment.
Hulling
The last stage of the coffee preparation process is the hulling, which is done on the farms, in 10 hulling dry lines.
Storage and Reprocessing
Alto Estates coffees are carefully selected and stored at Alto Paranaíba Armazéns Gerais Ltda., in store coffees equipped with cutting-edge machinery with the capacity to store 350,000 bags of coffee, as well as processing 4,000 bags per day.
In the various experimental fields developed by the Grossi Family, the coffee varieties that are best adapted to each farm are chosen. One of the properties, the Chácara Modelo (Experimental Field), in a technical partnership with the MAPA (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply) and the IAC (Campinas Agronomic Institute), is dedicated exclusively to research and development with emphasis on breeding plant programs that seek the best varieties of coffee adapted to the Cerrado Mineiro and that please the demanding taste of the consumers.
Following the selection of the best varieties, seedlings are cultivated on the farms, where the ones with the best development are selected and planted.
The Cerrado Mineiro Region presents altitude and climatic conditions ideal for the coffee cultivation, however, it has dystrophic soils, in a way that coffee cultivation uses technologies for corrections and improvements in their fertility.
Soil fertility is corrected by the application of fertilizers from calcareous, magnesian and phosphate rocks, also using organic compounds elaborated in the farms with coffee residues.
The cultivations are carefully planned with the help of professionals who form an experienced and professionalized team of collaborators.
Pest and disease management is done in an integrated way. The employees carry out, in a constant and programmed way, surveys of incidences of pests and diseases. This form of work favors the application of defensive products only in the affected areas, reducing the environmental impact.
It should be emphasized that in the preparation of sprays and in the handling of pesticides there is a special attention to the safety of the worker and the environment.
The control of weeds is done in an ecologically sustainable way, aiming at improving the physical and chemical conditions of the soil and exploiting the work of predatory insects of other insects that infest the crops, reducing the use of chemical pesticides.
Irrigation is a necessary item on some Grossi Family farms. Its use is made in a way to reduce the consumption of water, taking advantage of the water stress of the coffee, irrigating it only in the moments indispensable to the break of this stress, which will guarantee a more uniform flowering and a homogenous harvest.
The harvests in the Alto Estates have higher potential of quality, because they happen only when there are 90% of mature grains.
The harvest is made in 70% mechanized way, using harvesters and coffee pickers, working full time, to meet the goal in shorter term.
When harvested, the coffee cherries are immediately processed into one of the 10 washing and pulping units of the group. All coffee harvested is processed, washed, peeled and spread on patios on the same day to avoid risk of loss of quality.
Natural coffees and pulped coffee are processed organically in facilities that consume little or no water and recycle all their solid and liquid waste.
Firstly, the coffee is pre-dried in the yards where the solar heat reduces the humidity of the bean, and then concludes its drying in the mechanical driers, which guarantee uniformity in the drying. Coffees remain in the driers until they reach 11% humidity.
Drying, finished in the driers, is carried out in three stages to ensure the uniformity of the aspects of the beans, from 40 ° C for pulped coffee and 45 ° C for natural coffees, preserving the qualities of the beans.
Sun-drying and in mechanical driers is used to emphasize the flavor attributes of coffees and ensure their quality in all weather conditions. There are 19 hectares of dry yard and 56 driers in which the humidity is constantly monitored.
It is important that the coffee, after drying, remain stored for at least 30 days to rest, giving the coffee a better homogeneity of drought, highlighting better flavors in the drink. We have the capacity to store about 30,000 bags of coffee on parchment.
The last stage of the coffee preparation process is the hulling, which is done on the farms, in 10 hulling dry lines.
Alto Estates coffees are carefully selected and stored at Alto Paranaíba Armazéns Gerais Ltda., in store coffees equipped with cutting-edge machinery with the capacity to store 350,000 bags of coffee, as well as processing 4,000 bags per day.
Our productive units
