Brazilië Capricornio

The very morning of us visiting the newly formed Women in Coffee group in Lavrinha, a hailstorm had hit the region. This year they were restoring most of their trees, and the hail can damage the leaves critically this period. As a response, the C-price jumped. In that moment, we saw it happening live: Brazil is so big, and so central to the global market, that its local weather alone can move prices. And in the market, when yields go down, prices tend to go up—creating a kind of natural safety net. At this point it was clear as day - our mission of trying to move away from the C market in Brazil was… misinformed.

With climate volatility only increasing, it’s understandable to lean on a system that takes this into account in some form. The only alternative when pre-harvest contracts are signed and locked is hoping for a forgiving buyer willing to renegotiate if things go wrong. At This Side Up, we’re more than willing. But let’s be honest—not many other buyers are, and even fewer have been in the past. Especially now, with high prices, the incentive to really try something else is understandably low. It’s simply not the right moment to challenge decades of a deeply rooted system.  

When we sat down with Ellen from Fazenda Fronteira, she explained how essential it is for her to sell late in the season: only then she can assess what she has and commit without the fear of falling short and keeping her word and obeying her contract. The Women in Coffee group in Matão echoed this: each household decides when to sell, based on their own weighing of pros and cons, and also their cashflow needs. Some go early to fund the harvest, others wait and bet on a higher price. That freedom is part of their strategy, their reality, and in a way: their culture. 

Our intention of listening and being curious was rewarded more than we could imagine. Our understanding of the C market and Matão differential are examples of this, and so was our conversation with Ellen. She told us about her sleepless nights in recent years. She had been struggling to make ends meet, but at the same time had been dreaming of investing in her own dry mill—a move towards independence, stability and more added value. After ten years of working with specialty coffee, with the current market prices, she could finally do it.

When she said this, Lennart looked at me and said, “perhaps this market reflects the real value of coffee. Not based on the cost of production, but on the cost of dreams.” Wesley overheard and corrected us - “the value of dreams”, he said. Regardless of whether the market drops again, we now have a price that we can use as a starting point to put a value on our partners’ dreams, with Capricornio as the stable, trusted partner in the center of a uniquely Brazilian value chain. The mechanisms used might have seemed scary, but after eight years, we finally understand how they are used: to support relationships and foster trust between everyone in the chain - which couldn’t fit our vision more perfectly.

De hoogte waarop de koffie groeit is laag, maar doordat de koffie erg Zuidelijk (en dus langzaam) groeit, ontwikkeld een smaak die vergelijkbaar is met hoger groeiende koffies meer naar de evenaar. De koffie groeit vanaf 500 meter hoogte en dat betekent dat de winters koud kunnen zijn. Het zijn koffiebonen met een zoete ondertoon, maar ook met een lage densiteit. Wij bieden van Capricornio de Espressoblend aan en de Dulce blend. Beide koffies zijn 100% Arabica maar een blend van meerdere fazendas (plantages). Zodoende zorgt men dat de mix ieder jaar een consistente smaak heeft. De bonen zijn pulped natural en machinaal geplukt.