Camocim Estate

Camocim — Fazenda Camocim — is a coffee farm in Pedra Azul, in the municipality of Domingos Martins, Espírito Santo, Brazil, in the mountain belt the trade calls Montanhas do Espírito Santo. It is on this wiki for two very different reasons.

The first is a competition record. Camocim produced the champion lot of the 2017 Cup of Excellence Brazil Naturals, scoring 93.60 and selling at US$90.20 a pound — roughly three times what the runner-up fetched.¹²

The second is a bird. Camocim’s signature product, Jacu Bird coffee, is made from cherries picked off the tree by the jacu, a wild bird of the Atlantic Forest, and it is routinely described in Brazilian press as the most expensive coffee in the country.¹³⁴

Both facts come out of the same decision. Camocim grows coffee inside standing forest rather than in cleared rows, without pesticides, under organic and biodynamic certification. A farm run that way has wild birds in it; a farm run that way also, on at least one harvest, produced a 93.60-point coffee.

Location	Pedra Azul, Domingos Martins, Espírito Santo, Brazil — Montanhas do Espírito Santo15
Producer	Henrique Leivas Sloper de Araújo15
Bought by the family	196213
Coffee planted at scale	1999 — 300,000 trees1
Land under coffee	70 ha (total property disputed — see below)13
Elevation of competition lots	1,250–1,300 m (2017); 980 m (2019)15
Certifications	IBD organic, Demeter biodynamic, BSCA15
Best result	93.60, 1st place, Cup of Excellence Brazil Naturals 201712

Story

The property was acquired in 1962 by the grandfather of the current producer — Olivar Sloper de Araújo — and passed down to his grandson Henrique Leivas Sloper de Araújo, who runs it today.¹³ The Alliance for Coffee Excellence’s own farm record puts the next milestone at 1999, when 300,000 coffee trees were planted — the expansion that turned a family property into a commercial organic Arabica farm.¹

Everything the farm is known for follows from a choice about how to plant those trees. Coffee at Camocim goes into the forest, not instead of it: an agroforestry system inside Atlantic Forest, no pesticides, no chemical inputs, and management timed to biodynamic cycles — a farming philosophy that schedules field work against the sun, moon and planets, and which the farm’s certifiers describe as producing “healthier and more resistant plants.”¹⁵

Harvest is selectively hand-picked, and the farm’s own account adds that the coffee is dried on raised beds.⁶ The ACE record credits the post-harvest side specifically: systematised processing with control of temperature and humidity at every stage.⁵

To verify — when coffee actually started, and how big the farm is

Two of the most basic numbers about this farm do not agree across sources.

Total area. The Alliance for Coffee Excellence farm records — filled in for a competition entry — say 160 hectares total, 70 under coffee.¹⁵ A September 2025 Brazilian trade article says 300 hectares total, 70 under coffee.³ A 2025 blueprint document from the Nature Investment Lab is cited in the research behind this note as describing operations “over 153 hectares”; that PDF could not be read here.⁷ The 70 ha of coffee is consistent everywhere. The total property figure is not — it may be the difference between the coffee operation and everything the family owns, but no source says so.

First planting. The farm’s own history page is cited as dating coffee cultivation at Camocim to 1996, three years before ACE’s 1999 expansion.⁶ That page returned HTTP 404 when checked here, so 1996 is unconfirmed. Only 1999 is on a primary record.¹

Jacu Bird coffee

This is the product Camocim is famous for outside competition circles.

The jacu (a guan — a large, dark, ground-and-canopy forest bird native to the Atlantic Forest) eats ripe coffee cherries off the trees. Camocim collects the beans the birds leave behind, cleans and dries them, and sells the result as a super-premium lot. ACE’s record describes the cherries as “selected from the trees by the jacu birds themselves,” calls the coffee 100% Arabica, certified organic and biodynamic, and gives the cup as smooth with striking acidity and fruity, floral aromas.¹ The farm’s own site frames the bird as a biological indicator: jacus only live where the forest is intact, so their presence is evidence the farming is doing what it claims.⁴

Two things make this more than a novelty. The bird does the ripeness selection that a picker normally does, and it is fussier — it takes only fully ripe fruit. And the lot is not a single variety but a blend of whatever the birds ate, skewed toward the yellow-fruited trees they prefer.¹⁵

The obvious comparison is Indonesian kopi luwak, made from cherries eaten by civets, which has a bad reputation for caged animals. The jacu is wild and uncaged — it comes and goes from a forest the farm maintains. That is the distinction Camocim’s marketing rests on, and it is a real one.

To verify — the numbers behind Jacu Bird, and what the bird actually does

Volume, first-production date and export split are single-sourced to a page that is now offline. The research behind this note cites Camocim’s own history page for: first Jacu Bird production in 2006 (a few kilograms), ~150 kg/year by 2008, ~2 tonnes a year currently, and 80% of Jacu Bird production exported to France, Japan, Australia and the United States.⁶ That page returned HTTP 404 when fetched here, and none of it appears on any primary record consulted.

It also conflicts with the one reachable Brazilian source. The September 2025 trade article gives 80% of the farm’s total production exported — not of Jacu Bird specifically — across 27 international destinations over time, with the current top markets in order as Japan, England, France and Brazil.³ Australia and the United States do not appear; England and Brazil do. Do not state an export split or a destination list as fact.

How the coffee is separated from the bird is described two ways. Trade and directory copy says the birds eat the cherries and the beans are recovered from the droppings; the farm’s own site says the beans are “selected on the plant by the jacu” and hand-collected.¹⁴ These imply different processes and different products. No source consulted documents the post-bird steps in detail beyond “cleaned and dried.”

Competition record

Camocim has two documented Cup of Excellence entries, both verifiable in Alliance for Coffee Excellence records, and they are almost comically far apart.

	Year	Competition	Rank	Score	Process	Variety	Elevation	Auction price
1	2017	Brazil Naturals	1A	93.60	Natural	Catucaí Açu – IAPAR 59	1,250–1,300 m	US$90.20/lb2
2	2017	Brazil Naturals	1B	93.60	Natural	Catucaí Açu – IAPAR 59	1,250–1,300 m	US$80.30/lb2
3	2019	Brazil	21	87.68	Pulped natural	Catucaí Açu – IAPAR 59	980 m	US$8.00/lb58

2017 is the headline. Camocim took both top slots in Brazil’s Naturals competition at 93.60 points, and the 1A lot cleared US90.20 a pound** against **US30.60 for the second-placed farm.² For context, the entire 2019 Brazil auction averaged $11.80/lb.⁸ This is one of the highest prices a Brazilian coffee has ever fetched — see Cup of Excellence records by country.

2019 is the useful counterweight. The same farm, the same stated variety, entered a pulped natural lot from a plot at 980 m, placed 21st of 27 at 87.68, and sold 793.68 lb at 8.00/lb** for **6,349.44.⁵⁸ Still specialty — 87.68 is comfortably above the 80-point floor — but a completely ordinary result.

The gap between those two lines is the whole argument about what a farm name is worth. A 93.60 does not travel. It belongs to one plot, one harvest, one processing decision.

The variety footnote

Both Camocim lots are recorded by ACE as Catucaí Açu – Iapar 59.¹⁵ That matters beyond this farm, because IAPAR 59 is the only member of the Sarchimor rust-resistant family that the World Coffee Research catalogue rates “Low” for cup quality — the bottom of the scale. A variety rated “Low” holds the highest verified Cup of Excellence score in its family, on this farm.

This wiki’s IAPAR 59 note previously recorded the variety attribution as a single-sourced retailer claim, because ACE’s results table does not carry a variety column. ACE’s own farm-directory entries for both lots do, and they were read directly for this note.¹⁵ The attribution is now on a primary record. What is still not on any breeding record is “Catucaí Açu” itself — no IAPAR or Fundação Procafé cultivar registry consulted lists a selection by that name, so treat it as a farm/trade designation rather than a registered cultivar.

Certifications

Certification	What it covers
IBD (Instituto Biodinâmico)	Organic and biodynamic management, Brazil’s main domestic certifier15
Demeter	The international biodynamic standard for finished products15
BSCA	Brazil Specialty Coffee Association — quality and sustainability15

The farm’s own site additionally claims Fair Trade certification alongside organic and biodynamic.⁴ That one does not appear on either ACE record, so it is stated here as the farm’s claim.

Price and market

The Brazilian trade press calls Jacu Bird “o café mais caro do Brasil” — the most expensive coffee in Brazil — at around R$ 1,600 per kilogram.³ The same September 2025 article reports the farm producing 270 tonnes of coffee a year overall, exporting about 80%, having shipped to 27 countries over time, and running sales growth of 15–20% in 2025 against 2024, with Japan, England, France and Brazil as its leading markets.³

Camocim’s coffees also appear on specialty roaster and retailer menus in the United States and Europe, sold on the biodynamic story rather than on the auction score.⁹¹⁰ That is a different business from the auction model: direct relationships, repeat volume, and a certification narrative a roaster can print on a bag.

To verify — the price, and the producer's BSCA role

The R$1,600/kg figure comes from one journalistic source, dated 28 September 2025, apparently based on an interview rather than a price list.³ It was read directly here, so the article does say it — but no second independent source confirms the number, and “most expensive coffee in Brazil” is a marketing claim before it is a measurement. No wholesale or FOB price for Camocim’s non-competition coffee is published anywhere consulted.

Henrique Sloper is described as a former president of the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA) across several roaster and retailer pages.⁹¹⁰ Those pages generally source their farm copy from the producer, which makes them one claim repeated rather than several sources agreeing. No BSCA document confirming his term was found.

To verify — how high the farm actually sits

Elevation is given three different ways. The farm’s own site says 1,200 m.⁴ The Brazilian article says the property runs 1,000–1,300 m.³ ACE’s records put the 2017 lot at 1,250–1,300 m and the 2019 lot at 980 m.¹⁵ These are probably all true of different plots on a mountain property — but that is an inference, not something any source states. Take elevation from the specific lot, never from the farm.

Why it matters

Camocim is the counterexample to almost everything the Brazil note says about Brazilian coffee. Brazil’s model is flat ground, machine harvest, strip-picking and scale — a decent cup in enormous quantity at a predictable price. Camocim is steep, forested, hand-picked, uncertified-by-volume and organic, in a state (Espírito Santo) that is otherwise Conilon country, meaning Robusta.

It also puts three of this wiki’s arguments in one place:

• Catalogue ratings are not verdicts. A variety rated “Low” scored 93.60 here. See IAPAR 59.
• A farm name is not a guarantee. The same farm placed 21st two years later. See the table above.
• Biodiversity can be a product. The jacu is not a gimmick bolted onto the farm; the bird exists on the property because of how the coffee is grown, and the coffee sells because the bird exists.

Related

• Brazil — the origin, and the production model Camocim is the exception to
• Daterra · Cerrado Mineiro — the other Brazilian specialty entries on this wiki, both in Minas Gerais and both nothing like this
• Henrique Sloper — the third-generation producer who runs the farm
• IAPAR 59 · Sarchimor · IAPAR — the variety ACE credits both Camocim lots to, and the family it belongs to
• Cup of Excellence · Alliance for Coffee Excellence · Cup of Excellence records by country — the competition, the body, and where 93.60 and $90.20/lb sit historically
• Natural process · Pulped natural — the two processing methods behind the 2017 and 2019 lots
• Selective picking — how the coffee is harvested, and what the jacu does instead
• Green coffee auctions · Direct trade · Premiumisation — the two channels Camocim sells through, and what makes a coffee cost R$1,600 a kilo
• Coffee scoring · Cupping — how 93.60 and 87.68 were arrived at
• Specialty coffee · Climate change and coffee — the market this farm sells into and the argument its forest makes
• Brazil Specialty Coffee Association — the national body certifying it, which Henrique Sloper is said to have led

Official links

• Official site — Fazenda Camocim (Camocim Organic)
• Official record — Alliance for Coffee Excellence farm directory: Fazenda Camocim, 93.60 (Brazil Naturals 2017)
• Official record — Alliance for Coffee Excellence farm directory: Fazenda Camocim, 87.68 (Brazil 2019)

The farm’s own history page (/historia/) and Jacu coffee page (/jacu-coffee/) both returned HTTP 404 when checked for this note; the site’s live navigation lists equivalents under “About the Farm” and “Jacu Coffee.”

Footnotes

1. Alliance for Coffee Excellence — farm directory: Fazenda Camocim 2017, 93.60 — confirmed via WebFetch; source of the 93.60 score, Brazil Naturals 2017, natural processing, the Catucaí Açu–Iapar 59 variety, 1,250–1,300 masl, 160 ha / 70 ha under coffee, the 1962 acquisition, the 1999 planting of 300,000 trees, the IBD / BSCA / Demeter certifications and the Jacu Bird description ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴

2. Alliance for Coffee Excellence — Cup of Excellence Brazil Naturals 2017 results — the primary auction record for the 1A and 1B placings at 93.60 and the US90.20 and US80.30 per pound prices ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. Café Cotação — Conheça a Fazenda Camocim, que produz o café mais caro do Brasil (28 September 2025) — confirmed via WebFetch; source of the R$1,600/kg figure, 270 tonnes annual production, ~80% export share, 27 destination countries, the Japan–England–France–Brazil market order, the 15–20% sales growth against 2024, the 300 ha / 70 ha and 1,000–1,300 m figures, and Olivar’s 1962 purchase ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

4. Fazenda Camocim — official site — confirmed via WebFetch; source of the Pedra Azul location, the 1,200 m elevation, the organic / biodynamic / Fair Trade certification claims, the raised-bed drying and manual harvest description, and the “selected on the plant by the jacu” wording ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

5. Alliance for Coffee Excellence — farm directory: Fazenda Camocim, 87.68 — confirmed via WebFetch; source of the Brazil 2019 entry, pulped natural processing, 980 masl, 45 ha, the flavour notes, the agroforestry and post-harvest description and the certification list ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

6. Fazenda Camocim — Nossa História — the farm’s own history page, cited in the research behind this note for the 1996 planting date and the Jacu Bird volume and export figures; returned HTTP 404 when fetched here, so none of those figures are confirmed ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. Nature Investment Lab — Camocim Blueprint (PDF) — cited for the “over 153 hectares” figure; the PDF was retrieved but returned unreadable binary, so the figure is unconfirmed ↩

8. Alliance for Coffee Excellence — Cup of Excellence Brazil 2019 results — confirmed via WebFetch; source of Camocim’s 21st placing, 793.68 lb at 8.00/lb for 6,349.44, and the auction-wide $11.80/lb average ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Linea Caffe — Brazil Camocim Biodynamic — US roaster listing; one of the pages describing Henrique Sloper as a former BSCA president ↩ ↩²

10. Kaffee Stehl — Brazil Camocim — European roaster listing; repeats the biodynamic, Demeter and BSCA-presidency framing ↩ ↩²