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.

The quality of a seed lot is an essential factor in the planning and implementation of any agricultural production program. Quality seeds provide strong and uniform plant growth. This study aims to analyze the physiological quality of seeds from different groups of Arabica coffee cultivars recommended for planting in the Brazilian highland regions. The seeds were picked from an Arabica coffee seed production field, accredited by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply, located in the municipality of Marechal Floriano, state of Espírito Santo (ES), Brazil. The experimental design was completely randomized, with four replications of 50 seeds each. The treatments were composed by traditional cultivars and new Arabica coffee recommendations from Catuaí Japi), and Sarchimor (Acauã, Arara) groups. The seeds were manually harvested in sieves, at the point of physiological maturation, processed, and dried until reaching a humidity of 35% ± 1%. Immediately following this, the seeds were taken to the Seed Analysis Laboratory,

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