Mió is a female-led company run by Cris Gerbasi, COO for Brazilian Business, Ana Luiza, COO for International Business and Renata Parisi (Ana’s Mum) Owner and general badass of Mio. Ana says “We want to be producers who are in charge of all decisions regarding the supply chain. We want to take control and expand our traceability to the roaster's door. What is the point of all the traceability work we do at farm level if we don't know exactly what happens to our coffee afterwards?”.
Sustainability is incredibly important to Mio, and they have many projects they are working on to support social, economic and environmental stability. They pride ourselves on a 100% traceability guarantee for the entire crop every year. Each stage of the journey, from where the cherries were harvested, which trucks moved them, how and when they were processed, is tracked using satellite imagery. Being a technology-driven farm improves the farmworkers’ quality of life, ensures an abundant harvest and guarantees the highest processing standards for the crop. The world coffee supply chain consists of a large number of steps. Mió aims to oversee every part of the process. Buying coffee from Mió is as trustworthy and straightforward as buying vegetables at your farmers’ market.
Mio’s state-of-the-art processing facilities include: a wet-mill, concrete patios, raised beds, ambient-air drying rotating machines, wood silos, cross-beater hullers and a density separator. The beans are then sorted further according to size and colour using an oscillating screen and optical-electronic system.
“Mió is, first of all, a farm in Monte Santo de Minas, a tiny town where I was born 30 years ago, and so was everyone in my family for at least four generations. Last year we decided we did not want it to be just a farm anymore, we wanted to export our coffee, import into the UK ourselves, store it here and sell directly to roasteries. We dreamed of making the term direct trade actually mean something to our farm, and everyone involved in the process” says Ana.
More About the Boza Sisters
The incredible Boza Sisters of Finca San Antonio Amatepec are ambitious change-makers carving a path for themselves and the next generation of coffee producers.
At their farm just outside of San Salvador, they focus on shade-grown specialty coffee through sustainable methods.
Believing their coffee was of poor quality, they sold it for a low price locally. Incredibly, after sending a sample of their coffee off to be tasted, they discovered not only was it specialty-grade coffee but that their local buyer was actually selling it as a single-origin specialty, using their name and photographs. Unfreakinbelievable!
The Boza women took it upon themselves to reach out directly to roasters to sell their coffee and lucky for us, we were one of the first they contacted! This is our 6th year buying from the Boza family.
In February 2023 we were lucky enough to spend time with the Boza family, on their awe-inspiring farm. The love, passion and respect they show for their land, the people they work with, the coffee plants, and the many animals that grace their farm (including a very lovable, crazy-eyed dog called Diana) was just incredible.