Curto Café

Gabriel Magalhaes, along with co founders Sergio Kienteca and Romulo Martinez, opened Curto in a four square meter space in Centro, after Magalhaes had learned the trade helping an uncle's shop in Volta Redonda and later set up a roasting operation on a small farm in Espirito Santo when commercial suppliers refused to roast light for him. In its early years the shop drew wide attention for a pay what you think it is worth model, showing customers the cafe's monthly running costs and letting them decide what to leave behind.

The current version of the shop instead runs on a fixed, transparently priced menu the team describes as running below the market average, still built on the same traceable, single origin microlots roasted at the shop's own facility in Centro.