Since 2018, RSR has sourced Brazilian coffee exclusively from Gaucha Specialty Coffee, the US importer of the Seibt family’s coffee from their farm in the state of Minas Gerais, in a rugged but agriculturally productive region called the Cerrado.

Our relationship with Gaucha (pronounced “gah-OO-shah”) began in an interesting way: At the Coffee & Donut Festival in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2018. Gaucha co-owner Matthew Kruse approached the table we were working at the festival and introduced himself.

Kruse grew up on a farm in northwest Iowa and in his 20s he began working on an investment farming property in northern Brazil, learning Portuguese on the fly. Subsequent experiences in Brazil eventually led him to Minas Gerais and meeting the Seibt family, who’d settled in the area in the 1970s, clearing the rugged terrain to establish agricultural production of soybeans, corn, and cattle for beef and dairy.

Caroline Seibt and Matthew eventually fell in love and married in Caroline’s hometown of Patos de Minas but live most of the year in Iowa. Newly settled in the US, Caroline dreamed of introducing her family’s coffee to the US market and thus, Gaucha Specialty Coffee was born.

I start with that adorable story because it’s the namesake of our Single Origin offering from Gaucha: Family Tradition. Gaucha coffee has also been a staple in many of our blends, such as Bohemian Gothic and Jack’s Feed Store.

And after 6 years of a successful relationship with Gaucha, this summer I had the opportunity to visit their farm with a longtime friend (and RSR fan) who is fluent in Portuguese and has a lot of experience of his own working in Brazil. We had a great time.

Here are a few of my takeaways from the trip…

Brazil Goes Big in Coffee

Brazil is the top coffee-producing country in the world and has been for a looong time. The country is well-suited to large-scale production because like any other coffee country it’s in the tropics but, unlike most other coffee countries, there are large areas of the country that are non-mountainous but still have high enough elevation to produce large quantities of of good-quality coffee that can be harvested using mechanized equipment.

I already knew this going into the experience but seeing it up close is a whole other thing.

I have spent the majority of my life in the rural Midwest. Despite not having grown up on a farm, ancestors on both sides of my family were farmers and I’ve spent a lot of time on Iowa farms. So I’ve seen “go big” farming up close and the most shocking thing to me is that in many ways, the Cerrado is far more like farming in Iowa vs. farming in, say, Nicaragua (see our video from that trip).

Investments in Quality

RSR sources only Specialty-grade coffees. That has a technical meaning in the industry but basically it means we only buy “the good stuff.” That said, there are ranges of quality within Specialty Coffee’s 80-100 point scoring system that correlate to price. The only coffee we’ve ever purchased from Gaucha is their cash crop coffee which consistently scores in the low-mid 80s. That makes it the perfect coffee for inclusion in blends while also having a strong place in our Single Origin lineup.

But Caroline’s sister-in-law, Karina, is working on elevating the quality profile of Gaucha’s coffees by introducing microlots, new tree varieties, new & experimental processing techniques, and more - all to diversify and elevate Gaucha’s coffee offferings from a quality and product perspective. For instance…

At their processing mill we saw raised bed drying for natural processing of coffees, which is extremely rare in that part of Brazil.

One afternoon, we were led in a cupping session of a single microlot varietal that was processed 8 different ways. The cupping session was led by certified Q-Grader, Giselle Abreu, who works with Karina on Gaucha’s quality initiatives.

I look forward to getting my hands one some of those micro-lots for RSR, so we can showcase their commitment to growing capacity for quality to you all!

Sustainability Matters

Large-scale agricultural production has inherent risks with respect to ecological sustainability, which puts Brazil in a unique position as the world’s largest producer. Specialty Coffee consumers in the US tend to be rightly concerned about how the products they consume impact the earth in the areas they’re produced.

It was heartening for me to see Gaucha’s sustainability initiatives that show up in interesting an innovative ways. For instance, the manure handling system for their cattle operation produces solids that are used for fertilizer in the coffee fields but also the liquid waste goes through a few more steps and eventually the methane gas is captured and used to generate electricity that is sold back onto the power grid. Gaucha has also been engaging in reforestation on their land and are in the certification process with both Starbucks and the Rainforest Alliance.

Hospitality: The secret ingredient

During our time on the family’s farm, we were treated like members of the family. The highlight for me was dinner one night where Caroline’s brother, Felipe, grilled up picanha - a traditional Brazilian beef cut - that was done to perfection. The fresh fruits and vegetables from the on-premises garden included citrus fruits and bananas. Wild parrots flew through the trees one evening as a we sat and talked after dinner. We got to sleep on the farm one of the nights. All in all, it was just a magical time in a place that felt simultaneously quite familiar and in other ways quite different.

All in all, it was time well spent. For one thing, it was just plain fun. But more than that we got to strengthen an already great working relationship and see how the family plans to continue advancing their coffee business in a changing market that shows no signs of slowing down its appetite for high-quality coffees like the ones we source at RSR.

Our deep thanks to the Seibt family for hosting us! Obrigado.