Guima, Brazil

Where it all started 

Dr. Flavio Pentagna Guimarães bought Fazenda São Lourenço in 1977 with a big dream: to produce the best coffee in the world. This is how the story of Guima Café begins. Shortly after, Guima expanded to the Brasis and Santa Rita farms, both in the same region. 

Over time, they have built a solid culture, underpinned by a commitment to continuous improvement, valuing employees, opportunities regardless of gender, training and innovation. A commitment to show, every day, that it is possible to optimize operations and, at the same time, produce coffee with special nuances and with great care and dedication. Now Guima is taking on its next challenge of becoming a regenerative coffee farm! Nespresso is the company who has brought reNature in to support Guima and other coffee producers to transition towards regenerative practices. 

At Fazenda São Lourenço, the first of the three, most crops are still present, but a lot has changed. Guima has added crops with varieties better adapted to their soil and climate conditions. Fazenda Brasis followed and is home to a very special garden of exotic varieties. Fazenda Santa Rita has a magical valley, surrounded by Yellow and Red Bourbons, which guarantees a pattern of balanced and unique coffee. 100% of the area is drip irrigated.

Women run 

Most of the farm is run by women responsible for leading the operation and implementing the first regenerative showcases. These women believe in regenerative coffee which has already started to inspire other local farmers that this type of practices are the future. 

The women who manage Guima Café are incredibly precise and organized. Beside them is a diverse team, with complementary profiles and aligned values. Guima believes in the strength of learning and in the discovery and implementation of new techniques. A management that always innovates, with the support of all workers. 

Once the farm has shown economic success combined with the socio-environmental impact, the coffee farmers intend to scale regenerative practices across their 850 hectares as well as the region. 

Working towards nature positive coffee production 

The best coffee is one that helps the world to be better too. Guima is constantly working towards optimizing the use of inputs, reducing nitrogen products and improving the quality of the soil and the biome around them. reNature is working with Nespresso to assist early adopters farmers that already supply Nespresso to fully transition to Regenerative Coffee. One of the first early adopters is Guima Café, where we will be developing demonstration plots applying regenerative practices. 

The project aims to increase soil carbon sequestration and stock, as well as increase biodiversity and retain more water. There’s a big problem in Cerrado Mineiro with dryness due to climate change. Water is a big issue. Irrigation is not an efficient long-term solution, therefore the selection of species for the regenerative design will be influenced by the need for bringing more water back to the soil. This will be done by using cover crops, diversification and using perennials with deep-roots for water infiltration. Another big challenge is pests and diseases like Bicho-mineiro and Nematoides. These two can be combated by planting species that naturally helps to control such pests and diseases without harming current biodiversity. 

Almost half of the farm consists of native forest and they try to manage water resources in the most intelligent way. They have invested in the complete traceability of their coffees and they know that responsibility to the planet must be part of business. Today they’ve only implemented a few (10) hectares however they intend to scale that to the 850ha they have in the future as they see the success of the project. 

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