Norwegian roaster…
For 7 generations the Friele family has imported roasted and sold Brazilian coffees. The have a joint leadership in the very quality oriented Norwegian market, and they also have a line of speciality coffees with single origins and some flavoured coffees. Their main brand has always featured Brazil as a main component in their brand and it has also been used heavily in their advertising. Herman Friele who currently also holds the position as Meyer in Norway’s second largest town Bergen claims he can not leave this life before he has been a coffee farmer in Brazil, so his family company has bought a 48% share in the coffee farms Irarema and Brejoes from his good friend and long term partner Raymond Rebtez. The farms are located close to Pocos de Caldas (In English ”hot springs”) on the border between Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais . Those who follow coffee in Brazil closely will know that the region has fostered several Cup of Excellence winners. Frielie has for a long time been engaged in buying coffees also from other farms in the region for a long time and they estimate that their new farms will cover some 10% of their total Brazil import. Apart from having the personal satisfaction of pruning and harvesting his newly acquired coffee bushes, the strategic idea is to ensure a stable and predictable quality their blends.
Prior to this Friele has also made a less known investment in the area as the nearby coffee farm Lambardi also hosts the Friele Educational and Educational Centre. The town of Pocos de Caldas and its surroundings are easy accessable from Sao Paulo. It is a beautiful resort both for tourism and for understanding how the combination of soil, microclimates and advanced coffee growing skills can produce some of the finest coffees in Brazil
