Brazilian Coffee

There is simply no getting around Brazil in any discussion of coffee. As the world’s largest coffee producer (nearly 40% of the world’s coffee production), Brazilian coffee grows numerous varietals on vast plantations on its climate diverse coffee belt in the southeast. With processing methods of all kinds and innovative cultivation, Brazil produces a dizzying mix of coffee profiles.

Brazil is mostly known for its espresso and dark roast blends because Brazilian coffee can withstand the intensity of an espresso extraction, blending traditional “roast” flavors with its chocolately origin characteristics. But the pressing question in the coffee world is whether Brazil can hold its own as single origin, specialty coffee coveted by artisan roasters, approaching the quality and flavor profiles of an Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kenya Hawaii, Indonesia or Papua New Guinea.

We think so! Brazilian coffee is nutty, sweet, low in acidity and develops bittersweet and chocolate roast flavors. The right Brazilian can be exceptional as a shot of espresso, an ibrik of Turkish coffee or a morning drip. Brazil does lack in the kind of extreme topographies that produce truly unique coffees, but it excels in its cultivation technology, varietals and processing methods—all develops that extreme geographies would limit.

We tend to use Brazilians can serve double duty—a bold base for a blend as well as a specialty coffee in its own right.