Somewhere in the middle of the nippy Atlantic Ocean, a quick little four-hour flight from Boston no less, is where the subtropical volcanic islands of the Azores truly hide out. Magical, mystical green lushness, oversized volcanic craters now reimagined as lakes, steaming natural hot springs that puff out from the earth, blue hydrangeas in the thousands, and more cows than humansโwell, that’s the Azores for you.ย Aside fromย belonging to Portugal for most of their modern lifeโminus that Spanish moment in 1580โthe islands havenโt received their deserved love. Until now that is.
Aside from the nine islands that make up the archipelago, there are a few small towns with burgeoning dining scenes and some boutique hotels, hot springs, endless adventure activities (think horses, diving, kayaking) and of course one small island, Sรฃo Jorgeโwith a marvelous coffee plantation. โThe Azores has been waiting to be taken seriously as a perfect getaway destinationโit has everything Europe has, but itโs just a little easier to navigate,โ says Luis Nunes, whose family operates coffee farms (and a tourism company) on Sรฃo Jorge. Just a quick hopper plane from the main island (where Ponta Delgado is the capital in case youโre wondering)โand youโve arrived minutes later.
So whatโs the big deal here? What makes these plantations so marvelous are the difficult to reach Sรฃo Jorge fajรฃs. These are flat lands that are at sea level on the island and are very steepโa coffee beanโs dream haven. โThese are results from the accumulation of debris, following earthquakes, or lava flows from volcanic eruptions, and their flat and fertile soils, create a very specific microclimate,” saysย Nunes.
โUnfortunately, there are no bibliographical references that accurately [date]ย the introduction of the coffee plantation in Sรฃo Jorge,โ says Dina Nunes, whose father Manuel is the farmer and owner of the small plantation as well as Cafe Nunes, its sister business. โHowever, thereย are some experts in the field who have likened the characteristics of the plants [Arabica coffee]ย to actually have come from Brazil.โ Around the 17thย and 18thย century there was a strong emigration of Azoreans to Brazilโafter the great earthquake of 1757 that shook, among other islands, the island of Sรฃo Jorge.
โSo in the late 18th-century transition to the 19thย century possibly someone who worked on some coffee farm will have returned from Brazil to Sรฃo Jorge, bringing coffee beans,โ says Dina Nunes. In the ’90s, when the island had no tavern (or coffee shop for that matter), the craft shop located in the fajรฃ brewedย coffee to captivate the customers coming to buy the famous bedspreads made by the family. By 1997, they had set up a proper cafe.
Sรฃo Jorge, the only [coffee farm] in Europe, says Dina Nunes, boastsย “all the fundamentals for great coffee production.” ย Nunes explains that the plants grow at aย super-low altitude with aย climate that is in fact very similar to what Brazil has: โWe are below 300 meters to almost sea level, with average annual temperatures ranging from 12 degrees Celsius in winter to 25 degrees Celsius in summer, plus a relatively average air humidity,โ she explains.
The Nunes family bought the land almost 40 years agoโwith only a small handful of plants. Today, they have 800 coffee plants and in the last year reached a final product of around 770 pounds of beans.ย โWe exclusively have Arabica but we are totally biologicalโwe do not require any chemicals to fight pests since they just do not exist here,โ saysย Dina Nunes. โAnd we also fertilize with the husks, leaves, and the coffee grounds.โ
The harvest season is between May and the end of Augustโthe beans are all picked by hand and dried on a rack for three to four weeks. Nunesโs grandmother, Elvira Nunes, at age 92, is in charge of making sure all the impurities are removed from the beans. โThe roasting is done the old-fashioned way: to the fire in an iron frying pan and stirring until desired color is obtained,โ smiles Dina Nunes.
But as Manuel Nunesย willย tell you, heโs not interested in exporting. If you love coffee and are interested in his little piece of heaven, he suggests that you need to come see it for yourself to believe it. In the summer, he serves around 200 espressos per dayโand the customers are always falling in love with what he has on offer. Heโs even willing to sell you a small bag of beans. But first, sit down and enjoy an espresso.
Daniel Schefflerย is a Sprudge staff writer at large. His work has appeared inย Tย Magazine,ย Travel And Leisure,ย Monocle,ย Playboy,ย New York Magazine,ย The New York Times, andย Butt. Read more Daniel Scheffler on Sprudge.
Photos courtesy of Azores Getaways.