Brazilian Coffee – plentiful and mediocre? Not any more.

If you want to know about coffee, you need to know about Brazilian coffee.

Brazil is and has been the world’s largest producer of coffee for a long time, responsible for 35% of all coffee grown. It is also the world’s second largest consumer of coffee.

However, as is often the case when anything is “mass produced”, the quality of Brazilian coffee has been nothing to write home about.

Cast your mind back a few years and think of those cans of ground coffee lining the supermarket shelves. Or think of the jars of instant coffee granules. Chances are most of that coffee came from Brazil.

Why the poor quality? There were a couple of factors involved. First, the government stifled initiatives by farmers through being overly controlling. Second, the cleaning and processing of beans was done in a way that didn’t bring out the best in quality and flavor.

Both these problems have now been largely corrected, which is why one can now find some excellent Brazilain coffee.

Start with a Brazilian Santos...

Brazilan Santos is named after the port through which most Brazilian coffee is exported. The beans used for Brazilian Santos are the higher grades, usually from the growing regions of Mogiana and Sul de Minas.

Santos was the first and is still most popular of the specialty gourmet coffees to come out of Brazil. This is the coffee that lifted them from that place of mediocrity.

Brazilian Santos is typically low-acid, medium to full-bodied and sweet.

Then explore other Brazilian specialty coffees...

As artisan growers in Brazil continue to refine their growing, drying and refining processes, we can expect to see more and more specialty coffees appearing, of a quality to rival the better known gourmet coffees of Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica and other regions.

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About the author: Nick Usborne, aka Coffee Detective, is a writer and long-time coffee enthusiast. Read more…