Brazilian Cooperative Celebrates 1 Year of the Grupo Cafeína, Launching Coffees Produced Exclusively by Women and 4C Certified
The Coooperativa dos Cafeicultores da Zona de Três Pontas (Cocatrel), based in the south of the state of Minas Gerais, celebrates in March one full year of the Cocatrel Grupo Cafeína (Caffeine Group). In such a short time, the group which is formed only by women (cooperative members, wives, and daughters) achieved visibility and national and international recognition for the seriousness with which it has been working for the cooperative.
“Cocatrel is the coffee growers’ cooperative with the highest percentage of women in Brazil. Once we became aware of this data, we could not help but embrace this group formed by female producers. Our purpose is to bring them closer to the management of the cooperative and empower them through training and knowledge, so that they are able to make assertive decisions in their businesses.”, says Marco Valério Araújo Brito, president of Cocatrel.
During this first year, trainings, courses and meetings took place, and good practices were exchanged among these women, who fully devoted themselves to the project, with reciprocity, engagement, and dissemination of the acquired knowledge.
“The Grupo Cafeína for us, producers, has been very important because there has never been such a great appreciation of women in the field. This Cocatrel initiative has encouraged us, with training and meetings, and empowered us to participate more in the day-to-day activities of the farm. It is essential to have technical and practical knowledge of all the processes, from tree to cup, so that we can demand and produce quality coffee, keeping up with all the requirements of consumers and the market, but not leaving sustainability aside.”, explains Adalgiza Miranda, a cooperative from Cocatrel.
Cocatrel’s support and investment in the group helped Cafeína to gain visibility and to achieve further goals. The story of successful empowerment through information and knowledge reached the market and coffee importers, becoming another good business opportunity. In 2019, Cocatrel exported the first coffees produced by the women of this group.
“Since the creation and consequent promotion of Cocatrel´s Cafeína, I have seen the increasing interest of the foreign market for the coffee of these women. We were very happy to close this first container of fine coffees, being sold with very representative premiums, because they are very good coffees and because they are produced by the members of Cafeína.”, explains Gabriel Miari, coordinator of Cocatrel Direct Trade, Cocatrel’s exclusive sector for the export of fine and specialty coffees.
Besides the green beans, the cooperative has a line of industrialized, roasted and ground coffees. Among the specialty coffees is the Montrês line. With seasonal and limited editions, Montrês coffees are produced with carefully selected coffees from the origin, using as raw material the best special 100% Arabica beans, with differentiated notes and aromas.
In March 2019, Cocatrel launched the Pearl and Violet coffees within the Montrês brand, completely produced by women. In 2020, in celebration of the first year of Grupo Cafeína, Cocatrel launched two more coffees produced by them, Jasmine and Aurora.
The Montrês brand of coffees are the first Cocatrel industrialized coffees to carry the 4C seal on their packaging, attesting to the seriousness of the cooperative in the production of beans. The 4C certification is today the largest certification for coffee in the world and establishes sustainability principles in the economic, social and environmental areas. 4C also values and strengthens the presence of women in the field, reinforcing in its criteria equal opportunities for women, such as training and knowledge acquisition, as well as in its positioning against discrimination.
In this international month of women, 4C celebrates together with Cocatrel the success of the Grupo Cafeína, and supports the actions that empower women worldwide. Cocatrel is the largest cooperative in the world in volume of 4C coffees, having almost all its six thousand members 4C certified. The cooperative has been participating in the 4C coffee certification system since November 2009.
Cocatrel´s Cafeína, where did the group’s name come from?
The name Cafeína (caffeine), besides being linked to coffee, comes from the fact that women from coffee fields are strong and have much energy to transform their realities.
Just like caffeine, a chemical compound that brings many benefits to health, such as disposition, focus, concentration, better physical performance, and improved mood, the women of Grupo Cafeína have also plenty of energy to work, manage, and produce high quality coffee.
Cafeína is also a wordplay with the joining of expressions such as female caffeine, girl coffee, Minas coffee: everything leading to Cafeína.