Legendér is a collection from several producers (like Edivalto Moraes of Sitio Barbela, pictured above, and Vanderson Caleari Alves, pictured right) growing coffee around the towns of Machado, Poco Fundo and Campestre in the Serro de Minas micro region. The Legendér quality program sources single lots from small farms, offering higher premiums for high quality, unique lots.

Brazil produces about one-third of the world’s coffee supply. With the sheer volume of coffee coming out of Brazil annually, it’s easy for producers to become focused on a quantity over quality mentality. Coffee from Brazil is often from large co-ops and blended into even larger quantities to fill the industry’s demand.

While there’s nothing wrong with high-volume coffee production in Brazil, it causes complications for the Serras de Minas micro region, which features some of Brazil’s hilliest terrain and highest altitudes. Mechanical picking of coffee cherries is impossible, slowing down coffee production and overall volume from the region.
What this region does support, however, is high quality, small scale, specialty coffee. Enter Demilson Batista Jr., who established the Legender quality program in 2012, working closely with farmers around Serras de Minas.

Traditionally, producers from small farms (called Sitios) in the Serras de Minas micro region would blend their entire production. Legendér has helped refocus these Sitios on producing quality specialty coffee that is sold at a premium through their quality program, and the difference in quality produced on these Sitos compared to traditional Brazil cupping profile is immense. These smaller scale (for Brazil) producers are excited to innovate, trying new drying and fermentation methods to achieve even higher quality.

Many small sitios around Machado, Poco Fundo and Campestre are represented in this lot of Legender - here are two stories: Sitio Barbela and Sitio Caleari

Sitio Barbela is produced by a group of sharecroppers in Poco Fundo, and was sourced for the first time by Legendér this year. Sharecroppers are common in this region, but traditionally do not sell their coffee together. Because of this, they are sold in the most convenient way and almost never single lots.

Edivalto Moraes (pictured at the top of the page), an always positive, happy, life enthusiast, was up for the challenge. Serving as the representative for his group of 25 sharecroppers, he brought their coffee to Legendér for the first time in 2021. After selling their share, Sitio Barbela was the name given to this lot, after Edivalto’s nickname.

The impact of selling this lot as part of the Legendér quality program was immediately clear. Edivalto could finally buy a house for his family, and he’s planning to purchase his first piece of land later this year. Sharecroppers from other farms are now organizing similarly to follow in their footsteps.
Sitio Caleari is owned by Vanderson Caleari Alves and his wife Bridiga, third-generation coffee growers. For the first time, Vanderson processed his lot using Anaerobic Fermentation. If you’re not familiar with this type of processing, you can read more about it here.

When Vanderson heard about Anaerobic Fermentation, he became fascinated with the reported results and tried it out. Because of this unique processing method, he could add an extra premium for each bag. While he received positive feedback in cuppings with Legendér, he is eagerly anticipating feedback from you, the final customer (this is a Farmer Feedback coffee!). He is hopeful to continue experimenting with various processing methods for the next harvest.