São Paulo is a megalopolis with over 12 million inhabitants; the 10th richest worldwide, responding for 12% of the national GDP. And has all problems of a big city: pollution, chaotic traffic, violence, etc.
But it also keeps many treasures. One of them is the Biological Institute seat, bedded in Vila Mariana neighborhood, in the city’s south area.
The place shelters the largest urban coffee plantation worldwide, with 2,500 coffee trees of varieties Mundo Novo and Catuaí. It was created in 1940 to develop researches to fight plagues in coffee plantations. Today it has a didactic role.
Every year the public is invited to participate in the harvest of the Institute coffee plantations, marking the symbolic start of coffee vintage in the state, to perpetuate the tradition.
The Biological Institute is open for visitation throughout the year, a good route for those who want to escape from São Paulo chaos.
Address:
Instituto Biológico
Av. Cons. Rodrigues Alves, 1252, Vila Mariana, São Paulo,
SP Phone: ( 5511) 5087-1704 – schedule with Harumi Hojo
