The production of specialty coffees is an important activity for farm incomes and should be encouraged. However, it is necessary that this process may respect the principles based on the economic, environmental, and social axes of sustainability. This research was carried out aiming to generate the initial benchmark of the sustainability of four farms in the municipality of Afonso Cláudio, State of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The System for Assessing Sustainability Standards for Coffee Growing in Espírito Santo, a tool in the format of an electronic spreadsheet, was used in order to quantify the scores of the different standards. The results showed a gap in the three axes with intervention needs mainly related to economical standards, followed by environmental, and social ones. The main interferences have been related to the quality of coffee beans management, costs and incomes of the farms, improvement in harvest and post-harvest processes, training in the use of manual machines, and the correct use of pesticides. Different intervention techniques will be offered to coffee-growers for Viçosi et al.

The growing demand for better quality coffees has driven changes in the coffee production chain, mainly through the adoption of new technologies and management. Thus, this work was carried out aiming to evaluate the physical and sensorial quality of Arabica coffee cultivars, submitted to natural and pulped post-harvesting processing. The experiment was carried out following a randomized block design with three replications, in a split-plot scheme, with the plots consisting of five cultivars (Catucaí 2 SL, Catucaí 24/137, Catuaí IAC 44, Arara and Acauã); and the subplots by two processes, pulped and natural cherry. The harvest was carried out manually, harvesting the cherry fruits (ripe) in a sieve. The coffees were processed by the natural and pulped cherry methods. Drying was carried out on a covered suspended terrace, until the grains reached 11% ± 1 moisture (wet basis, bu). The following evaluations were carried out: sensorial analysis of the beverage according to the SCAA methodology, analysis of grain sieves according to the Official Brazilian Coffee Classification Protocol. The results show that all evaluated cultivars have a great potential for the production of specialty coffees in that studied environment. Differences were observed between cultivars both in the sensory quality of the beverage and in the grain size. Cultivar Arara presents a general average of final beverage grade higher than the other cultivars.

Coffee growing is an important activity for the income of farms and the production of specialty coffees should be encouraged. However, it is necessary that this process respects the principles based on the economic, environmental, and social axes of sustainability. This research was carried out in the municipality of Conceição do Castelo, State of Espírito Santo, Brazil aiming to assess the initial benchmark of the sustainability of three farms. The results showed a gap in the three axes with intervention needs mainly related to economic standards, followed by social and environmental. Different interventions and adaptations need to be used on each farm aiming to reach better levels of adequacy according to sustainability criteria; however, the values of the families and their limitations must be respected, particularly the economic, social, and cultural conditions. The three coffee farms need adjustments for the production of specialty coffees, mainly related to economic criteria. In this way, farms will be able to reach new markets, add value to coffee beans, increase farm income and develop sustainability.

The coffee production chain has great socio-economic importance in Brazil, generating foreign exchange with great job-generating capacity. The Brazilian coffee production is circa 2.863 k tons and coffee research has contributed to the development of new technologies in order to increase yield. However, the size of plots used for coffee experiments has been variable and mostly based on the empirical researcher's experience. Therefore, this research was carried out aiming to determine the optimal size of experimental plots to evaluate field growing parameters of Arabica coffee. The modified maximum curvature model and the comparison of variances were the methods used. It is concluded that 2, 3, 3, and 6 plants per useful experimental plot of Arabica coffee are enough to evaluate the field growing parameters plant height, plant canopy diameter, vigor, and wet mass, respectively by the method of modified maximum curvature. Two plants per experimental plot were required when using the variance comparison method to the parameters plant height, and plant canopy diameter, and 4 plants were enough to the parameters vigor and wet mass. In general, four useful plants per experimental plot were enough using the variance comparison method and six useful plants when using the modified maximum curvature method.