Origin Trip: Brazil

Travelling to the countries of origin shortly after the harvest is particularly exciting. This year, Ivo made his way through the idyllic coffee farms in the highlands of Brazil and participated in endless cuppings every day.

The coffee harvest in Brazil comes to an end in September and it is particularly exciting for us roasters and green coffee importers to visit the farms and taste the many freshly harvested coffees. Similar to wine growing, every harvest is different. The seasonal, climatic and weather conditions influence the quality of the coffee grown and also affect the taste of the coffee. The same coffee can therefore taste different every year and has its own character.

Brazil is one of the world's most important producers of green coffee. It is home to some of the largest coffee farms in the world and at the same time to many original Arabica varieties such as Yellow Bourbon, Caturra or Catuai. In 2018, the export volume reached an impressive 51,500 coffee bags of 60 kg each. A lot of coffee that is shipped all over the world. By comparison, Ethiopia had 7,650 bags last year. But despite the large industrial share in Brazilian coffee production, there have been a large number of coffee farmers in some growing regions for years who have specialised in growing high-quality speciality coffees. One of these regions is Minas Gerais.

Visiting the Poco de Caldas region in South Minas, which is one of the largest coffee-growing areas in Minas Gerais. Around 50% of the annual coffee harvest comes from this region. However, some of the best rated coffees in the country are also produced in Minas Gerais. The landscape is characterised by smaller and larger coffee farms between 10 and 100 hectares of cultivation area. South Minas is mainly located at an altitude of almost 1,000 metres and average temperatures are around 22 °C. Incidentally, most coffee in Brazil is now processed pulped-naturally, a development that has benefited the quality of the coffee produced since the early 1990s.

In addition to the delicious culinary experience, which resulted from the warm hospitality of the often family-run farms, at least 50 different coffees were also tasted here every day. In between, there were always opportunities to talk to locals and enjoy the beauty of nature.

We continued south from Poco de Caldas to Carmo de Minas. The town is part of the Serra da Mantiqueira micro-region in South Minas. The area lies at an altitude of 900-1,500 metres and is characterised by smaller coffee farms that have joined forces to agree on important quality principles for cultivation and have finally made a name for themselves by founding their own seal of origin. Here, too, numerous coffees were tasted. Cuppings upon cuppings followed.

Finally, the week passed and we headed back towards São Paulo. The journey through the highlands of South Minas was exciting and one got a good insight into the work of the coffee farmers working in Minas Gerais. Countless coffees were tasted. And finally, I discovered two treasures. Boa Vista from the Carmo Coffees farming community in Carmo de Minas will soon be available with us as a filter coffee speciality and Serra Negra from Poco de Caldas will be introduced to our range as a larger Trusted Trade contract in Sinfonia Espresso and as Brazil Espresso.

written by

Ivo Weller

Ivo is the founder of Röststätte Berlin and runs the roastery. Originally from the hotel business, he was one of the first coffee professionals in Germany to train as a chief coffee sommelier in Vienna and decided to learn how to roast coffee as a craft. In our blog, he reports on current coffee topics and developments.

website

www.roeststaette.com