Fazenda Santa Lúcia

Helcio Carneiro Pinto manages Santa Lúcia, one of the Grupo Sertão group of farms. Helcio grew up in a small coffee farming community near Carmo de Minas, leaving to study and work in Espirito Santo in electrical engineering. Helcio returned to the area in 1979 with his young family to run Santa Lúcia, one of his in-laws’ farms. It was an auspicious move, as his son – Jacques - went on to set up Carmo Coffees with his cousin - Luis Paulo. Carmo Coffees is the exporter through which we buy all of our coffee from Brazil. Jacques and Luis Paulo knew their families had potential for quality coffee and set about entering coffee competitions with it. On the back of their successes Carmo Coffees was created, and the families had access to international buyers, and we gained access to these amazing coffees. The move to farming was the beginning of a long learning curve for Helcio, but he enjoys living and working in Carmo de Minas, he says everything he needs is nearby – his family, his friends, and his farm.