Brazil

Donas do Café

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About

Donas do Café

Highlights

Donas do Café

Women lead farm management, quality control, and business decisions.
Reliable flavor profiles and availability for roasters with social impact.
Each lot is carefully blended from a handful of Sítios and Fazendas and remains fully traceable to every individual farm involved.

Women Leadership in Coffee Culture

Women play a crucial role in the worldwide coffee business. From cultivation and post-harvest management to financial administration and quality control, their contribution shapes the industry at every level. Brazil is no exception. Across Sul de Minas, women are increasingly stepping into leadership roles on farms that have often been in their families for generations.

Recognizing this evolution, SMC Specialty Coffees created the Donas do Café program — an initiative designed to give visibility, technical support, and market access to female coffee producers. The program strengthens their position in specialty coffee while preserving the regional identity and quality standards that define Sul de Minas.

The Faces of Donas do Café

Behind Donas do Café are women who combine technical skill with personal dedication. The project brings together producers from some of the most exciting coffee regions within Minas Gerais, with a strong focus on Sul de Minas, including the Volcanic Region of Campestre and the high elevations of Mantiqueira de Minas. Each region contributes its own microclimate and character, adding depth and diversity to the collective profile of Donas do Café.

Fazenda Trapiá – Andrea Rangel

Andrea's story with coffee farming began in 2005, when she and her husband, Renato, decided to start a productive activity in the high mountains of Mantiqueira. She began her studies from scratch - having no experience in the area, she relied on research, courses and lectures. Since then, the work with specialty coffees has evolved immensely. Andrea is involved with post-harvest planning, finance and the organization of the property.

Baependi, Mantiqueira de Minas
1400 masl

Sítio Pernambuco – Tânia dos Reis

Coffee farming has been a tradition in Tânia's family. Reinaldo, her father, has always been a great inspiration. The producer is a Coffee Technician and an Agronomist Engineer, specialized in Sustainable Coffee-growing. Tânia is involved in the administration of the property, taking care of the finances and the traceability of their lots, as well as following the post-harvest processes to ensure high quality.

Cabo Verde, Sul de Minas
1160 masl

Sítio Posses – Gislaine & Lucileia Borges

In a family farming, mother and daughter work together at Sítio Posses, where they share the responsibility for post-harvest, planning and finances. Donas do Café came as an incentive for them to seek higher quality coffees, getting inside this unique market that provides more visibility for the efforts of women in coffee culture, which has been a tradition in the Borges Family, brought by Gislaine’s paternal grandparents.

Campestre, Sul de Minas
1150 masl

Sítio Gourita – Marisa Contreras

Marisa became even more involved with coffee growing and its various practices after joining the Donas do Café program, where she connected with other women producers and took part in lectures and knowledge-sharing sessions. Her work at Sítio Gourita is mainly focused on post-harvest activities, which she shares with her husband, Edison Cardoso.

Nova Resende, Sul de Minas
1110 masl

SMC and Trabocca

A Long-Term Sourcing Partnership

SMC and Trabocca have been working together for many years, building a partnership rooted in trust, transparency, and shared quality ambitions. Over time, we have imported coffees that have become essential pillars of our Brazil portfolio — such as Fazenda Passeio, Fazenda Das Almas, and Donas do Café, among several other trusted locations.

Beyond sourcing, our collaboration extends into innovation and recognition. Through initiatives such as SMC’s Especialíssimo contest, the best coffees from their network are evaluated and awarded — strengthening quality awareness throughout the supply chain. In 2025, our cupper Cintya joined the judging panel, further deepening the connection between our teams.

Shared Commitment
to Quality & Growth

Relationships remain at the core of this partnership. Through SMC, we have built strong ties with producers like Adolfo from Fazenda Passeio. Recently we received our own dedicated Trabocca parcel — a symbolic gesture representing mutual commitment, long-term collaboration, and shared belief in the future of Brazilian specialty coffee.

Donas do Café is therefore not a standalone concept within our offering. It is part of a broader, long-term partnership built on quality, equity, and shared responsibility.

Sítios and Fazendas

In Brazil, the terms Fazenda and Sítio reflect differences in scale and structure.
A Fazenda typically refers to a larger estate with broader production capacity and infrastructure. A Sítio is generally smaller, often family-run, highly hands-on, and deeply rooted in local tradition.

Within Donas do Café, both are represented.

Consistency Through Collective Strength

All individual lots remain fully traceable and can also be accessed directly. However, the Donas do Café structure allows SMC to group coffees by flavor profile and regional proximity. This ensures consistent cup character and reliable availability, while uniting multiple female producers under one recognizable platform.

Typically, each lot consists of only a handful of farmers — maintaining clarity and expressive regional character. This model allows competitive pricing without compromising quality, while delivering meaningful social impact through visibility, market access, and empowerment.

Consistency for the roaster. Exposure for the producer. That balance defines the program.

Technical

Information

Region

sul-de-minas

Certifications

Organic

Processes

Natural

Altitude

1000 - 1400 masl.

Producer

Various Female Producers

Cupping notes

Natural Processing, Regional Identity

Donas do Café consists of natural processed Arabicas, typically patio dried under the sun in Sul de Minas. Varietals vary depending on the contributing producers within each lot, with common regional varieties including Catuaí, Mundo Novo, Bourbon, and Topázio.

Coffees are carefully selected and grouped by SMC’s quality team to ensure both consistency and expressive regional character. While individual lots remain accessible, the Donas do Café model allows for stable year-round availability and competitive positioning in the market.

Cup Characteristics

In the cup, the profile is anchored in a classic Brazilian foundation of chocolate and roasted nuts, layered with caramel and brown sugar sweetness. Depending on lot composition, cherry and berry notes add vibrancy — occasionally leaning toward a winey or liqueur-like expression in stronger selections.

The acidity is typically sweet and structured, reminiscent of orange or soft red fruit, supported by a medium to full body. A round, chocolate-driven finish defines the cup, sometimes with a lightly drying texture characteristic of high-grown naturals.

It is a profile that delivers reliability yet leaves room for character.

Specialty coffee culture relies on equity

Donas do Café is built on recognition. Not symbolic inclusion, but professional acknowledgment. The program creates space for women to:

Strengthen technical expertise
Expand business knowledge
Increase market visibility
Build confidence in negotiation
Develop long-term commercial relationships

Equity here means access to knowledge, to markets, and to opportunity.

Community – Growing Together

The structure of Donas do Café follows a continuous cycle:

Inform – Keep Up – Communicate – Negotiate

Knowledge-sharing sessions plant seeds for improvement.
Technical follow-up supports implementation in the field.
Communication connects coffees with international partners.
Negotiation opens doors to new business opportunities.

It is a dynamic model — connecting farm, exporter, and roaster in a shared commitment to growth.

Donas do Café is a platform for quality, visibility, competitive pricing, and long-term partnership.

Impressions from 2025 Field Trip