Brazilian Coffee
They tell a romantic yarn about coffee’s arrival in Brazil involving a Portuguese Lieutenant Colonel, a Guianese governor’s wife and some beans smuggled in a bouquet of flowers. Today, Brazil is the world’s biggest producer, responsible for around a third of the planet’s output.
Thankfully, the advent of the non-profit Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA) has helped ensure excellent quality. We’ve sourced our 100% arabica Brazilian single-origin beans from the mountainous Mantiqueira de Minas region, which was the first coffee-growing area to be recognised by the BSCA. Its steep slopes discouraged mechanisation, bringing a distinctly craft approach to coffee cultivation. Whenever you buy Brazilian coffee beans, look for the BSCA seal of approval – you can expect superior (often hand-picked and naturally processed) coffee.
Some ninety percent of the producers in the Mantiqueira de Minas area are smallholders, with growing areas that are rarely larger than a hundred hectares. Microlots – prized patches that give rise to especially delicious beans – are also common. The quality of a microlot tends to trickle down through an entire coffee-growing area, with the care and attention taken to them proving kind of infectious.
Brazilian coffee is renowned for its full body, fruitiness and low acidity. If you buy jute Brazilian coffee beans, you’re in for a chocolate-caramel-pecan treat. Our Brazilian – ethically sourced from a Mantiqueira de Minas cooperative and hand-roasted in Northamptonshire – makes for intense espressos, satisfying long blacks and the smoothest of milky coffees.
