Located in Espírito Santo do Jardim, countryside of São Paulo, the property is equipped to receive special visitors with audio description and coffee tasting
Located between the municipalities of Santo Antônio do Jardim and Espírito Santo do Pinhal, in São Paulo, the Retiro Santo Antônio farm is a reference when it comes to sustainability. With a family origin, in addition to specialty coffees by the Kaynã brand and the stone-ground corn, honey, corn and cattle sealing production, the farm invests in diversity and inclusion.
One of its most successful projects has been promoting, since 2017, visits by the visually impaired in its coffee plantation. “Since I was a child, I have always had this fear for developing some visual impairment. I have never had anyone in the family with this condition, but I have always felt that I needed to provide something positive for these people. It was then that I came up with the idea of promoting visits to the farm’s coffee plantation for this audience. And the result has been excellent,” says Jefferson Adorno.
Jefferson thought of all the details to welcome people with visual impairments or even blind people. “They need to have a safe and, at the same time, welcoming environment. After all, we have five senses, not just one. When visiting the coffee plantation, we show the audio production process through audio description. They walk safely across the streets of the coffee plantation, holding stakes with ropes that guide them, taste the coffee fruits at different maturities, help to harvest the ripe fruits and head to the terrace to check the drying of the grains. In short, we designed a walk where they use their full potential of sensations. They leave it in awe,” he says.
After the journey, Jefferson escorts them for lunch in the city and, right after that, in order to complete the program, they visit a partner coffee shop at the farm, where they get to know the roasting process of coffees and further have the opportunity to taste different types of coffee, such as the one from the Mogiana region, from Cerrado Mineiro, microbatches of specialty coffee and commodities, so as to understand the differences.
To participate in the visitation, just contact the farm via WhatsApp (+55 19 9 9994107) at least one week in advance. Depending on the pandemic, groups cannot exceed eight people. Visits are open to everyone. “Here, we do everything so that no one feels different or excluded”, says Jefferson.
The Kaynã coffee
The Kaynã coffee, which in the Tupi Guarani language means “the one who lives in the forest”, is produced sustainably in the shade of the farm’s preserved forest, where more than six thousand Atlantic Forest plants have already been recovered. In its cultivation, several agroecological techniques are practiced and the waste has a certain destination, according to the owner.
The packaging is made of certified kraft paper, 100% recyclable, with all the information about the production, also in braille. Part of the proceeds from the sale goes to the Dorina Nowill Foundation for the blind, to sponsor actions for social inclusion and rehabilitation of visually impaired people.
The Kaynã coffee is sold at the farm’s virtual store at www.kayna.com.br, at Casa Santa Luzia www.santaluzia.com.br and at Padaria Santiago @santiagopadariaartesanal. The ATA Institute, www.institutoata.org.br markets the cornmeal produced at the farm.
