BY JENNIFER BUCHOLTZ
Papa Dukes Coffee owners and Mercerians Jaron Bergeron
and Victor Dias deliver premium coffee beans
“straight from the farm.”
From plants grown on family-owned Brazilian hillsides,
Papa Dukes Coffee’s 100 percent Arabica beans are
processed, bagged and shipped for retail in Macon.
“I stood anxiously awaiting their arrival, and as the warehouse doors opened, I experienced what it feels like to discover treasures of the lost ark,” remarked Jaron Bergeron (BUS ’10, MBA ’12) as he recounted the moment he and Victor Dias (ENG ’13) found themselves in Savannah’s customs warehouse, claiming ownership of 5,000 pounds of coffee beans shipped from the Dias family farm in Brazil.
More than 4,000 miles from the Papa Dukes farm in Aguas da Prata, Brazil, Dias brewed an American partnership seeded on the Mercer tennis courts. Attention to paces and spins of tennis balls on the court shifted to blends and roasts of coffee beans off the court less than two years after Bergeron and Dias first met as members of the Mercer men’s tennis team.
The prime coffee bean depends on its environmental conditions: altitude, soil and climate. Similar to the harvest of a farm, success of a business depends on its characters. Dias’s curiosity and enjoyment in discovering how things work, coupled with Bergeron’s self-starting desire to capitalize opportunity, cultivated a fruitful combination in 2011 upon which Papa Dukes Coffee, a small distribution company based in Macon, was founded. When asked what gave them the idea to start Papa Dukes Coffee, Dias explained, “These coffee beans are supplied around the world to big-name corporate producers who add it to their blends. However, it has never been supplied at the household level in its original state. So, we had the idea of providing households with some of the best coffee I’ve ever experienced, and in its purest form straight from the farm.”
Typically, distributors of gourmet coffee undertake the task of searching all over the world to discover the finest coffee beans. Bergeron and Dias, however, looked no farther than the Dias family farm situated at one of the highest points on the Mantiqueira Mountains in tropical Brazil. Quality of product and responsibility to community are traits that thread Dias’s and Bergeron’s small coffee distribution business. Harvesting Papa Dukes Coffee starts with hand-stripping trees of their beans. After coffee beans, in their juicy raw green form, fall from plucking onto crisp white sheets, they are cleaned and transported onto large patios for drying under the warm Brazilian sun. Packaged in bulk and shipped to the Atlantic shores of Savannah, Papa Dukes Coffee is composed of 100 percent prime Arabica beans roasted and packaged in Macon for retail. The care in which Papa Dukes coffee beans are handled is unique, and the bean quality is considered exceptional. While other well-known brands typically include a 20-30 percent blend of premium beans, Papa Dukes coffee is produced from 100 percent prime Arabica beans.
Even more impressive than the quality of coffee beans is the stewardship both the Dias family farm and Papa Dukes Coffee show their community. The Dias family farm has, over the years, donated land for their town cemetery, middle school, and most importantly, the main tourist site of the town that stretches 100 acres around spring water fountains and surrounding forests.
“The farm has been in our family for more than 150 years, being passed along from father to son. My grandfather passed the farm to my father who is active in the farm’s cultivation and production of coffee beans,” Dias said. “Papa Dukes Coffee is my first step into the industry, where I am fortunate to learn the ropes alongside my dad. I have always known that I would become part of the farm some day, and I’m anxious to start sooner than later.”
Locally, Papa Dukes Coffee intends to develop an educational facility where community members can experience the process in which Papa Dukes coffee is produced.
“One of our long-range goals is to cultivate a relationship where our customers know the farmer; where they are educated on the origin and preparation of their coffee beans,” Bergeron said.
Realizing the value of engaged learning, Bergeron also looks forward to offering Mercer students structured real-world experiences through internships at Papa Dukes Coffee.
Leaders on campus, in their professions, and in their communities, Bergeron and Dias embody what it means to “Be the Bear.”