Andre Selga and Nadia Moreira have been in the coffee business for a decade now. After establishing connections with friends and farmers in Brazil, they brought their business to Australia in 2017 to break into the specialty coffee market. They call themselves “coffee hunters,” always in search of the best bean to make that perfect cup of coffee. They have built their business on connections and mutual education with the farmers they work with. So far, the results have proven to be successful. We sat down with the couple to find out more about their coffee sourcing process and how they support farmers back home.

Brazil has been a major coffee producer since the 19^th century, but it wasn’t seen as a source of specialty coffee for a long time. Andre and Nadia have been working on changing that, and they’ve started to see that change. “Brazil can deliver all the flavours of the world at once,” Andre says. He argues that Brazil is well positioned to supply the growing demand for specialty coffee. The agricultural techniques, landscape, and diverse microclimates in Brazil are all optimal for creating a variety of specialty coffees. And Andre and Nadia have been at the forefront of developing this specialty coffee and bringing it to Australia.

Andre and Nadia have maintained close ties to their home country, and often travel back and forth to interact directly with farmers. They have a team back in Brazil that participates in the market, getting to know the other farmers and traders in the business. “That’s how everything starts,” Andre says. “With the connection.”

Making the Connections

The farmers they connect with want to improve their crops. These farmers, who are seeking more knowledge, improving their techniques, and trying out new ways to optimize their crops in terms of avoiding pests and improving nutrition, tend to produce the best coffee.

Andre and Nadia’s tasting process is rigorous, cupping ten cups of coffee for each potential trade partner. The cups may be far from perfect, but the farms with the most potential produce exceptional flavours that can be brought out more with an optimized growing process.

When they find these promising farmers, Andre and Nadia offer a better price for the specialty coffee that they produce – at least three to four times that of other offers. This price, Andre argues, helps these small farmers afford to harvest only the ripe cherries over multiple passes. Their above-market-rate pricing also enables farmers to improve their growing process and produce truly specialty coffee.

One producer they connected with produced only 15 bags of specialty coffee in the year they first made contact. Nadia assured their support, and the following year she produced triple the volume and Southland Merchants bought her entire stock. The start of this successful relationship, Nadia says, was the result of an open dialogue and established trust.

Providing Support Where It’s Needed Most

In Brazil, where good healthcare and education may be inaccessible in some rural areas, farmers are often not as well-educated as farmers elsewhere. This is where Southland Merchants has stepped in to help support coffee farmers advance their education not only about the crop that they grow but also how to run the business side of things.

As Southland Coffee Merchants becomes more established in Australia, Andre and Nadia have become more confident about their growers and the future of specialty coffee in Brazil. They have seen the children of coffee growers return to the farm to help their parents, and the specialty coffee market has continued to flourish. “Now they have an opportunity to earn money in the industry,” Nadia says.

Meaningful Work

This career of coffee hunting is extremely meaningful for the pair. The greatest meaning, Andre says, comes from the connections they make with other people, and not only teaching, but learning from them, as well. “I think it’s a both-way learning process,” he says, “which brings a lot of joy to what we do on a daily basis.”

You can find Andre and Nadia on Instagram under the handle @southlandmerchants. Follow them for a series of videos on local coffee growers talking about their livelihood and the coffee growing experience.

Andre and Nadia’s Key Takeaways

• Knowing the region from which your coffee is sourced, and especially developing connections with producers in the region, will help inform you of the market and any latent potential there.

• Providing support to quality producers, whether through offering the best price or through educational feedback, will likely lead to better product.

• When considering a new vendor, a rigorous tasting process may help you make the most informed decision.

• Good coffee production involves a variety of factors – climate, pest control, soil nutrition, and people.

• Connections – with producers, roasters, and consumers – all help create a feedback loop that helps produce the best coffee.
• Working with coffee producers is a two-way learning process – you can learn as much from them as they can from you.

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