Bom Retiro district, in São Paulo, was famous throughout its history due to its hospitality as a shelter for the immigrants who arrived in São Paulo in the end of the XIX century. First came the Italians, then the Jews, Syrians, Lebanese, Turks, Russians and, as of the 90s, Bolivians and Koreans. As a result, the district has always been industrial and has some mixed commercial establishments.
But Bom Retiro, today, has become famous for sheltering, since 2015, the house that is considered the best coffee shop in São Paulo: Um Coffee Co., an absolute success of public and critic. Grão Especial sent its team to chat with Stefano Um, the family’s patriarch, who started the business within the special coffees segment, with the Fazenda Um. The Korean immigrant who fell in love with Brazil, started his family and with his work along his children, Boram and Garam, he has formed an important foundation for promoting the best Brazilian specialty coffees
Brazilian at Heart
Stefano was born in Seoul, the capital and largest city of South Korea. In 1976, he came to Brazil with his parents and siblings during the postwar period. His father was an English teacher and, because of his profession, he met some high-ranking Brazilian military personnel, which convinced him to immigrate to Brazil with his whole family, a wife and five children.
They moved to São Paulo, to the Liberdade district more precisely, known as a famous Asian neighborhood in the City of São Paulo. Stefano remembers the time when he arrived in São Paulo: “At the age of 12, everything was all new, but it was a cultural shock, mainly because of the language, but my people adapted well here.”, he says proudly.
He met his wife, who is also a Korean immigrant, with whom he had two Brazilian children: Boram and Garam. He graduated in business administration, he has always worked in the electronics sales sector. In 2004, he had an opportunity to receive a grant from Samsung in Brazil, the company plans for Brazil included building a factory. He chose the city of Varginha to implement the Samsung plant, unaware of the fact that Varginha is one of the largest coffee exporting cities in the country. There, he met well-known producers and exporters, with whom he learned more on the market coffee. The owner of one of these companies invited Stefano to a partnership whose goal was to export green coffee beans as a commodity to other countries. From this point, begins the Um family history concerning the specialty coffees.
In 2010, he began to research and study the specialty coffees and figured out that the market was thoroughly interested in investing on quality coffees. In the following year, he decided to plant special coffees varieties on his farm.
Fazenda Um
He bought fazenda Um, a small farm in the South of Minas Gerais, in São Gonçalo do Sapucaí. “I started planting coffee in 2012 and I never stopped”, he said. “I’ve already planted more than 48,000 coffee plants in 2018.
Our plantation is somewhat different, we plant in shady areas and the post-harvest work is equal to the one done in Guatemala”. Fazenda Um has an average altitude of 1300 meters, producing altogether, eight different coffee varieties. And we have researched two new varieties.
UM Coffee Co.
While worked in the coffee plantations, his sons grew up: Boram graduated in engineering at the Mauá College and Garam in finance in Boston (USA). When Garam returned to Brazil, the brothers went deep in the specialty coffee’s world and started the Q Grader international roaster and a barista courses. In 2015, they opened Um Coffee Co. As Stefano had another business, a textile plant in Bom Retiro district, they decided to turn it into a coffee shop.
In fact, it is the siblings who manage the cafeteria and the roast process, which is held in the coffee shop itself. “We chose Bom Retiro district, due to the need to optimize costs, turned out to be a sure shot. Currently, the coffee shop is recognized as one of the best in the country. A public success, it is so great that, in two years, they have already opened two other units: one in Itaim, a fancy São Paulo’s district and another in Paraguay, with the help of an uncle who lives there.
“In the coffee shop, we sell beans from other farms, since I like to buy the best coffees produced in Brazil, so that I can show to the consumer the exceptional coffees that are produced in Brazil. And, of course, we offer the best beans from my farm that are served at Um Coffee Co”. adds Stefano.
Currently, Um Coffee Co. serves 12 varieties of coffee and they have a policy of not blending beans, enhancing the the producer value over the roaster. They are official partners of coffee machine makers, La Marzocco, espresso coffee machines and Atilla roasters. In the cafeteria, Garam, the oldest of the heirs, is responsible for teaching courses on the specialty coffees universe to the general public, since he holds a SCA certificate from England..
Differences between the specialty coffees scenario in Korea and Brazil
As it still has relatives in Korea, the family visits the Asian country frequently. Stefano points out the main differences in the specialty coffees scenario: “In the technical aspect, we are 10 to 15 years behind them, they are much better at processing coffee. They are able to obtain the best beans in the world, here in Brazil we have limitations by virtue of the law. In the coffee shops, the difference is huge. To make it clear, a coffee shop in Korea has another dimension; there, a coffee shop has to have a parking lot of 300 cars to serve the customers, the space is wider, here we are still far behind South Korea is the country with the most baristas in the world, there are more than 3000, here in Brazil, we do not have even a thousand, and the difference in size and population of the two countries is enormous. Brazil needs to advance a lot, after all we are the coffee country”, he says. Recalling that the population of South Korea is 51 million people and that the country has more than 16 thousand coffee shops. Special coffee is a business a taken very seriously in the country.
Appreciation of Brazilian coffee
Despite seeing how late we are when comparing the technical aspect of the national specialty coffee scenario, Stefano believes that, as a product, Brazilian special coffee has excellent quality. Its revenue: appreciation of our coffee beans and technical and financial support to small producers are the key to improving the specialty coffee industry: “Brazil is unbeatable in production and quality, but the rest of the world still does not recognize it. Our job is to add value to our coffee, to show the world that it is one of the best. I’ve tasted all the best coffees in the world, and I’m sure Brazilian coffee is better than all of them, but it’s not appreciated. We lack a basic structure, both of government and entrepreneurs, we have to create an investment fund to encourage the small Brazilian producers. They produce the best coffees in the country”, he enthuses.
The Future of Fazenda Um and Um Coffee Co.
Fazenda Um will invest more and more on the shade-grown coffee and the coffee beans fermentation of its production. Um Coffee Co. will open another two branches until May, one in Pinheiros and the other in Morumbi, districts of São Paulo. Garam and Boram are betting on the growth of the number of coffee shops of the franchise, opening new units, as well as the growth of roasting process, since they want to toast to offer supply to other coffee shops.
“As our goal is to add value to the Brazilian coffee, both abroad and in Brazil, we always want to improve our coffee quality at a feasible price. The highest quality coffee possible at the lowest possible price is our motto”, he finishes.
