Brazil South Minas Semi-Washed Bourbon Specialty Coffee Beans: Grading, Price, Green Beans and Roast Level

Brazil's Premium Coffee Regions

Even so, the Cerrado plateau of western Minas Gerais and the southern Minas region, most of it sitting above 1,100 meters, bring together rolling topography, sharply divided wet and dry seasons, wide day-to-night temperature swings and countless microclimates. Those conditions suit elegant Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon trees, which is why the two areas have become the backbone of Brazilian specialty coffee. Mogiana, in northeastern São Paulo state, is likewise dominated by shade-grown Bourbon and ranks alongside Cerrado and southern Minas as one of Brazil's three great specialty regions.

What Makes Brazilian Coffee Distinctive

Brazil is largely flat, and most farms sit between 600 and 1,000 meters. The uniform landscape offers few microclimates, and growers have traditionally farmed without shade. The result is the soft-bean character Brazil is known for: low acidity, forward nutty notes, chocolate sweetness and a full body, with faint woody and earthy tones and little of the floral or citrus lift found elsewhere.

Minas Gerais: The Heart of Brazilian Coffee

Minas Gerais lies in the heart of the Brazilian plateau in southeastern South America and accounts for more than half of the country's high-quality Arabica.

The Santo Antônio do Amparo area, which won the 2016 Brazil Cup of Excellence, belongs to the core southern Minas production zone near the headquarters of the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association (BSCA).

Brewing Brazilian Coffee by Hand

Use 15 g of coffee at a medium grind (Fuji ghost-tooth grinder, setting #4) in a V60 dripper with water at 88-89°C. Pour 30 g for a 27-second bloom, then add water to 105 g and pause. When the bed has drained to about half, pour slowly until the total reaches 225 g. Stop before the tail end. The ratio is 1:15 and total extraction time is 2:00.

Product Information

Manufacturer: Dazhen Coffee FrontStreet Coffee
Shelf Life: 30 days
Net Weight: 227 g
Packaging: Bulk
Taste Profile: Sweet
Bean State: Roasted coffee beans
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Brazil
Coffee Variety: Bourbon coffee
Roast Degree: Medium roast

Coffee Specifications

Country: Brazil

Grade: SC14/SC16

Region: Southern Minas

Roast Level: Medium roast

Processing Method: Pulped natural

Varieties: Bourbon, Catuai

Elevation: 1,000-1,200 meters

Flavor Notes: Roasted sunflower seeds, rich and full-bodied, dark chocolate, sweet aftertaste and lingering finish.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you are only beginning to explore Brazil, FrontStreet Coffee's Cerrado Red Bourbon is the classic place to start. Grown in the well-known Cerrado region and roasted to a medium level, this red Bourbon shows creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel and hazelnut, with a round body, little acidity and a gentle bittersweet edge. It works equally well as a pour-over and in a moka pot, siphon or French press, and it also makes a fine single-origin espresso.

For a sweeter, fruitier expression of Brazil, try the FrontStreet Coffee Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon from Mogiana. The fertile red volcanic soil near southern Minas gives the cup a clean sugarcane sweetness alongside fruit and chocolate notes, and the rare Yellow Bourbon variety keeps that fruit character especially clean. It is forgiving in a pour-over, a moka pot or a home espresso machine.

Brazilian beans also anchor many of FrontStreet Coffee's espresso blends, from the rich-crema Classic Blend and the nutty Specialty Blend to the balanced Black Cocoa Blend recommended by many baristas and FrontStreet Coffee's Commercial Blend built for cafés. Brazil contributes the chocolate and cream notes, the soft sweet-bitter balance and the stability that keeps extraction consistent.