José Maria de Oliveira
José Maria comes from a deep rooted history of coffee tradition. As a boy, his grandfather had a small coffee farm where his father and uncles use to work. José has many great memories of picking cherries beside his family and playing around the coffee trees with his grandfather. At the age of 7 José’s family fell on hard times and they had no choice but to move to another part of the region and leave their home and farm behind in order to survive by working on different coffee farms.
At age 17, José Maria, in the pursuit of a better life, he moved to the city of Belo Horizonte. His first job outside of coffee was as a ticket collector for the city bus line. His big break didn’t come until later, when he began working inside of a pharmacy in hope of being able to earn a better living for his family. He eventually climbed the ranks and become a sales representative. In that position José learned 2 valuable lessons, the importance of being organized, and understanding at any level everything has a process. Eventually the realization set in with José, he could never stop thinking about Campos Altos. He always pondered to himself, how can the coffee in Campos Altos be so blessed? From that moment forward he made it his mission to one day have a piece of land in Campos Altos to live and grow coffee. He then moved home and fell in love with his wife Ebe, who’s family history was identical to Josés. Ebe’s family comes from a deep lineage of coffee pickers as well.
