Coming from completely non-traditional coffee farmers, Fazenda Um began in an abandoned farm in South of Minas Gerais in 2009. Stefano Um, son of South Korean Immigrants in Brazil, was never involved with producing coffee in his life until he began thinking about retirement. Stefano lived and grew up in the country side in Korea before moving to Brazil at the age of 12, which always brought wonderful memories of his childhood in a rice field in South Korea. With a deep desire to live in the countryside, Fazenda Um, began unpretentiously as a retirement plan. However, once Stefano began producing coffee with deep passion for high quality, and traceability when exporting his lots to his first Asian clients, he saw the unlockable potential of high quality Brazilian coffee.

In 2014, the Um family, together with sons Boram and Garam, embarked in the specialty coffee journey. Boram specialized in coffee quality by becoming a Q-grader and selecting to work on innovations for coffee processing. Garam focused his education on SCA courses and teaching thousands of baristas and coffee enthusiasts in Brazil. Together, Um Coffee Co. was founded. This is a coffee shop, roastery and coffee school in the largest city in Brazil, Sao Paulo. Being in the heart of the big city, Um Coffee Co quickly became a reference in specialty coffee culture in Brazil, being voted the best coffee shop in Sao Paulo 3 times.

Today, Um Coffee Co is focused on expanding and elevating Brazilian coffee through competitions and innovation in the production level. Boram and Garam are both competitive baristas, holding numerous national titles between Barista and Brewers cup respectively.  

With Fazenda Um Minas Gerais, Um Coffee Co's first property, the focus has been bringing a bit of the best of both worlds. The classical clean natural Brazilian notes along with a bit of innovation and delicate characteristics to the coffees, through experimentation and careful processing during post harvest. This farm is 300 hectares.

World Champion

In June 2023, Boram became the 23rd World Barista Champion and first ever from Brazil, first ever to win using a coffee produced on their family farm. On the same day, Garam was announced 3rd in the World Brewers Cup Championship. Forever grateful to be a part of the Dream Team through coaching, roasting, set design and logistics here at Forward.