High in the verdant hills above the town of Araponga in the state of Mians Gerais, Brazil, Edmar Lopes gently tends his coffee grove. The land is magical. It was once called Serra dos Arrepiados, the Eerie Mountains, because from a distance the slopes appear closer than they actually are and seem to recede like drifting ghosts as one approaches them. They gave early explorers goose bumps. Today, the magic is all in the soil and the weather, which make Mians Gerais the richest coffee growing area in the world. Its climate and altitude is perfectly suited to growing the mellow Arabica coffee bean. Unlike larger industrial growers whose product is wet processed and ground before ending up in a regiment of tins lining supermarket shelves, the fruit of Edmar’s labors have won awards for its excellence. Committed to ecologically sound farming for over a decade, Edmar has practiced Natural Agriculture since 2013. He knows his plants and takes time with each of them. The beans are never rushed. They are picked only in their prime. Then, they are dried unhurriedly in the sun. Wholesome Essence is proud to support Edmar in his endeavor to make fine coffee by making it available to our friends.