Blue Bottle Origin Trip 2018

Blue Bottle Visits FAF, Brazil’s “Environmental Fortress Farm”

Every year, Blue Bottle sends a select group of employees from across our markets in US and Asia to visit a coffee origin. The group are nominated by their peers. “Everyone is only going because their coworkers thought they’d be a wonderful person to have that opportunity and would make the most of it,” says Coffee Culture Director Michael Phillips, who organizes the trips and solicits the nominations.

For this trip we traveled to Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza (FAF). Meaning “Environmental Fortress Farm” in Portuguese, the 2,000-hectare estate is operated by Silvia Barreto, her husband Marcos Croce, and son Felipe Croce. Their work has ignited a revolution in the southern state of São Paulo, where they are forging a community of producers committed to restoring soil health and meticulously natural-processing their coffee.