In some coffee farms in the physiographic region of the upper San Francisco river basin, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, it is being applied high doses of gypsum, in order to ensure plant growth during the dry season. This study was used to evaluate the potential use and quantify attributes of soils cultivated with coffee under intensive cropping system, including high doses of gypsum that are improving coffee productivity. Soil classification was made in addition to the study of physical and chemical attributes and land classification according to land use adequability for cropping coffee. The soils were classified as Latosol and Cambisol. Coffee cultivation using this called “conservation tillage” improved chemical and physical properties, allowing for deeper growing of the root system in the Latosol. In the Cambisol, this tillage seems to create a very adequate environment for coffee production, and also accounted for reducing loss of rain water, because it increased water retention along the slope. Additionally, water deficit effects on plants during the dry season were attenuated. The results confirm a higher potential of soil that were initially seen as inadequate to be cultivated with coffee, such as the Cambisol. Chemically, the results showed that in the Latosol area showed no effect of gypsum on soil pH; however, gypsum was effective in improving the root’s environment, by increasing concentration of Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ in the soil solution, although K⁺ concentration was reduced, below 80cm in the soil profile. The amounts of exchangeable Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ found in the soil solution were above the critical level, and the exchangeable K⁺ remained within the critical range for the proper development and seed production of coffee plants.