ALLIE & LENNIE

São Luiz Estate has a long agricultural history but its coffee story starts in the 60s when Manoel Velloso dos Reis planted the first seedlings. His son  Fausto do Espírito Santo Velloso took over and greatly expanded the operation and its focus on quality in the cup. Today, the farm is managed by Ana Cecilia Velloso and her brother Lucio. As she states, "Lucio and me are in charge of the management of the farm, with the responsibility of perpetuating this legacy through our young and innovative spirit, passion and enthusiasm".

Spanning nearly 1,270 hectares, a third of the farm is made up of several smaller coffee lots that intertwine protected forests and water reservoirs. Beyond this focus on environmental sustainability, they focus on ever improving processing and innovation. As Ana states, "we produce high quality specialty coffees based on a model orientated to the valuation of people, in a true and transparent relationship with our customers and in constant search for new technologies and process efficiency".

This is our fourth harvest from the wonderful São Luiz and the fourth time partnering with the importer Aequitas. Run by Yuki Minami, the group's mandate is to "foster equitable and transparent relationships by enabling connections between producers and roasters". As Yuki states, "Aequitas is Latin for equity. But she was also a goddess that meant justice, transparency and fairness. And this is what I wanted to do, I wanted to promote a fair trade for producers”.