The History and Cultural Stories of Brazilian Coffee Beans: Flavor Characteristics of Arabica Growing Regions

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FrontStreet Coffee · Brazilian Coffee Bean History, Cultural Stories, and Regional Flavor Characteristics of Brazilian Arabica Coffee

Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer, with enormous quantity but generally average quality. Premium Brazilian coffee is not abundant, and Brazilian coffee is mostly used for blending in comprehensive coffee blends. Brazilian coffee beans typically feature chocolate and nutty notes, with excellent sweetness and body richness.

In 1720, the French brought coffee from French Guiana to Brazil. Later, Brazil obtained some mature coffee beans and five coffee seedlings from Guiana and began large-scale coffee cultivation.

The Story of Brazilian Coffee Beans

In 19th-century Europe, coffee was no longer an exclusive drink for the nobility but became increasingly popular among common people, leading to a surge in demand. The geographical conditions of Brazil's Paraná, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Espírito Santo states proved ideal for coffee cultivation.

The market anxiously called out: "Where are you, coffee that doesn't need to be too high quality but definitely can't be too expensive? We are common people with limited money—we can't afford Golden Mandheling or similar premium coffees. Affordability is most important!"

Brazilian coffee answered: "I'm here~ right here~"

Does everyone remember when French cafés became popular?

It was in the second half of the 19th century.

Does everyone remember what the French value most when drinking coffee?

It's the environment and feeling when drinking coffee, not the coffee's flavor itself. Therefore, using slightly inferior coffee beans didn't dampen people's enthusiasm for visiting cafés. Just think about it—if even Van Gogh, who long needed financial support from his brother, could afford to frequent these places, how particular could the coffee beans be?

Austria, famous for producing musicians, was the same story. The café was an artist's stronghold, and people didn't care at all about what they ate or drank.

People came to cafés for the atmosphere. Whether they were served sunflower seeds bought from the morning market for 10 yuan/kg or Qiaqia brand seeds from the supermarket made no difference to them. They simply loved the little touches of sentiment, warmth, and romance in cafés.

And so, Brazilian coffee production rapidly developed.

Brazil's coffee cultivation area is vast, and the level of mechanized production is quite high. People use machines for harvesting, which easily mixes mature and unripe fruits together. Usually, no sorting is done afterward, and sometimes coffee branches and leaves are even mixed in with the coffee fruits. People also use machine drying, which is very efficient but affects the flavor of the coffee beans.

Save effort wherever possible, don't worry about things that don't need worrying—what kind of work attitude is this?

Seeing farmers not properly cultivating their land, workers not properly producing, and baristas not properly brewing coffee really makes one angry!

Brazilian coffee comes in many varieties and grades. Santos coffee represents the highest level and can be called world-class coffee. Here, Santos refers to Bourbon Santos, not flat bean Santos. The Bourbon Santos tree produces small, curved beans in the first three to four years, with unique flavor. The coffee has a mild and smooth taste, low acidity, moderate body, with a faint grassy aroma, light fragrance with a hint of bitterness, and is smooth and sweet to the palate, suitable for medium roasting. Beans produced later become larger and flatter, called flat bean Santos. Flat bean Santos has mediocre taste and cannot be considered specialty coffee.

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