Serpentes Allegres - Perdizes, Brazil

26 May 2009 in Gourmet

You can enjoy this coffee that Robber Parker describes as “having sweet, pipe tobacco aromatics, allspice notes with a thick viscous body and a buttery finish.” And you can know that those flavors are a piece of a larger happy story.

Twelve years ago, before Ricardo de Aguiar Rezende made the commitment to make his farm Nossa Senhora De Fatima completely organic, snake bites were a constant problem for his farm workers. Those were often serious, life-threatening bites that took their toll on everyone.

Today, snake bites are almost unheard of and indeed, a recent bite, the first in almost 2 years, was met with critical medical care provided by the comprehensive social and medical plans provided for his workers. Hearing this story seemed to be emblematic of both the value of organic agriculture on the larger eco-system and the pricelessness of quality medical care and social programs for workers.

The next day I shared my idea to name the coffee for those snakes. Personally, I leaned towards the alliterative “smiling snake” or “serpent’s smile” but collectively the name “Septentes Allegres” (”Happy Snakes” in Portuguese) seemed to capture everyone’s imagination. That was that. And today when you drink Serpentes Allegres you can think about all the good things happening at Nossa Senhora De Fatima.