The Dawn of the Rainforest Club Coffee Brand

The Rainforest Club is in a region, where the coffee plantations dominated this hinterland of Rio de Janeiro. The hilly landscape had been ideal to grow coffee, which became world renowned starting in the early 1800s. Historic remains of the infrastructure that connected the region to the port in Rio de Janeiro are still present, today. Close to the Rainforest Club are the "Túneis de Murineli," tunnels of a steam railway system, which was part of the Estrada de Ferro Leopoldina. The train wound itself through the coffee plantations over more than 200km to transport the coffee harvest to the nearest port.

The coffee plantations cleared way for fruit plantations in the early 1900s, which then evolved into more lucrative cattle farming in the late 19 hundreds. Today, the contemporary consciousness in the new millennium vigorously debates the negative impact of cattle farming and its effects on the landscape and ecosystems. This perceived threat, plus the return of balanced agriculture and the elaborate, innovative, international coffee market with specialty coffee and increasing prices introduces a debut of renewed coffee farming.

The Rainforest Club team has been caught by this development and is scoping to create their own coffee brand in alignment with their mission. The coffee should not be planted as monoculture, which would deplete the soil and the team will not use toxic pesticides to combat pests and only use organic fertilizer. Also, the new plantation should be planted where previous coffee was grown on the farm.

Perspective of the former coffee field

Although, the Rainforest Club farm has long been cleared from former coffee plantation the organisms and composition of the soil and its composure, historically, had been influenced to grow coffee. Some individual coffee plants are still present from former cultivations due to natural germination and growth. Recently, the team counted some 3-4 coffee bushes close to the ruins of Casa da Marli.

Coffee bush close to the former coffee field

As a start, our volunteers picked the ripe coffee cherries, which are used to grow seedlings for this new project. This practice is favored among local farmers as seeds from a particular soil is said to produce favorably on that same soil. 

After picking, the cherries are dried, peeled and prepared for sprouting. Once sprouted, after 1,5-2 months, the seedlings will be transplanted into nursery beds. Only after 8-12 months the seedlings will be transferred from the nursery and planted in the wild.

Preparing coffee cherries for germination

Today, in June 2025 we are at the beginning of the sprouting process of the coffee seeds. Currently, the region endures the Winter months until September, the start of Spring. The Rainforest Club team anticipates transplanting the seedlings to the plantation in September 2026, which is the next favorable season for planting the seedlings after strengthening in the nursery bed. May 2025 be the year to call the inception of the Rainforest Club Coffee.

Rainforest Club Coffee est.2025