Brazilian Coffee 

While South America is well known around the world for many things, one that stands out is coffee.  However, each region has its own distinct practices in growing, which results in different tastes and flavors.  In this article, we will focus primarily on Brazilian coffee, which is rich and delicious!  First introduced by Francisco de Mello Palette in 1727, Brazil is today the largest coffee producer in the entire world.  Because of this, you can imagine the magnificent variety and flavor. 

Originally, two organizations were established to include the Brazilian Institute do Café and the International Coffee Organization.  The goal was to provide protection for some of the coffee producers with high quotas being set.  The problem was that the expectations were unreasonable and the primary focus was not on quality but quantity.  To provide consumers with a “decent” coffee while still meeting the high yield demands, the producers mixed high and low quality coffees. 

Then in the early 1990s, a new Brazilian government dropped the quota and provided different protections for both coffee and sugar growers.  With this, both organizations were shut down, bringing about a new life of exportation for coffee from Brazil.  Coffee farms were treated differently along with the overall production of the crops.  The result was much higher quality coffee and a wide variety of choices.  Soon, more and more consumers began buying, bringing us to where we are today. 

Brazilian coffee has many unique characteristics to include full-bodied richness to flavored coffees.  Even the espresso coffees are full but smoother.  Although the organizations were closed, the production of Brazilian coffee has skyrocketed.  Now, we see coffees being exported to the United States and other countries around the world.  Even so, 71% of all farms growing coffee are less than 10 hectares and just 4% being larger than 50 hectares. 

The processing of the coffee is one of the aspects that make Brazilian coffee so good.  Coffee is processed in one of three ways – washed, which is the wet method, dry or natural, and semi-washed, which is pulped natural.  However, most coffee from this country still goes through the dry method because of favorable temperatures.  Even though the beans take a long time to dry, the wait is well worth it.