Brazilian Coffee

Brazil is one of the leading countries in coffee production. Brazilian coffee is extremely popular as it takes up 30 to 35 percent of the worlds coffee. There are countless of coffee plantations in Brazil and they can be considered a giant in the commercial coffee industry in every aspect.

Brazilian Coffee Beans

Brazilian coffee-growing uses various methods of cultivation and harvesting. Traditional techniques and state-of-the art technology are combined in all the producing regions.

Brazil processes its coffee by wet, dry or natural and pulped natural methods. The vast majority of coffees are still processed via the dry method since Brazil is one of the few countries in the world that has the appropriate weather to practice it so successfully. Due to Brazil's distinct dry and wet seasons, the flowering and cherry maturation is homogeneous. This allows Brazilians to harvest coffee via the strip picking method and/or mechanically. Although under-ripe and overripe cherries are also harvested, careful processing will easily remove these cherries.

Brazilian specialty coffee growers have a unique advantage in the world. Due to the favorable climate during the harvesting season, the growers can choose the processing method that best suits the coffee quality required by their clients.

Nowadays, Brazil is responsible for about a third of all coffee production and the largest Arabica beans producer, being at the first position followed by Vietnam and Colombia. Brazilian coffee have won many awards in the annual contest sponsored by Illycafé, as established Italian coffee-roasting enterprise specializing in gourmet coffees and exporting its products to sixty countries. Thus, Brazilian coffee is recognized on the international market as ranking among the best in the world in terms of quality.

In Brazil, there is the BSCA - Brazil Specialty Coffee Association which was founded by a group of growers of high quality coffees to bring to the market their finest specialty products, the best Brazilian coffee. BSCA has members in all areas of Brazil where high quality Arabica coffees are grown: Sul de Minas, Matas de Minas, Cerrado, Chapadas de Minas, Mogiana, Bahia and Paraná.

The dry winters of the savannah highlands of Bahia and Northen Minas Gerais and their proximity to the Ecuator line yield highly aromatic coffees. The Cerrado highlands of Western Minas Gerais benefit from well defined seasons, uniform maturation and plenty of sunshine in the harvesting season to produce a round cup with perfect balance between body and acidity. Sul de Minas is well known for coffees with very good body and aroma and a degree of natural sweetness not found elsewhere in the world. The beans from Mogiana are cultivated at altitudes of 1,100 meters and the average annual temperatures are around 20ºC. The coffees of this region are bodied with a fruity aroma.  The beans from Paraná are cultivated at altitudes of 900 meters. The coffees from North Paraná are bodied, with sweet aroma and fine acidity. 

Brazil is also a conilon (Robusta) producer. The main producer regions are Espírito Santo and Rondônia.