Common Processing Methods for Brazilian Coffee Beans Brewing Suggestions and Flavor Characteristics for Pulped Natural Dark Roast Bourbon Beans

Brazilian Coffee: The Gentle Gateway to Pour-Over Excellence

Brazil is a country of fiery passion, yet behind this passion lies remarkable gentleness, and Brazilian coffee serves as an excellent example. Many coffee beginners, when first starting their journey, find both surprise and challenge in the wild acidity of African coffee beans and the intense bitterness of Asian coffee beans. Brazilian coffee beans, however, offer them mother-like gentleness—neither too acidic nor too bitter, with rich aromas. It can be said that Brazilian coffee beans are the most friendly single-origin coffee beans for pour-over coffee beginners.

The Global Influence of Brazilian Coffee

When speaking of coffee beans, Brazilian coffee beans must be mentioned. Since Brazil's coffee production ranks first globally, any minor occurrence in Brazil's coffee-growing regions causes corresponding fluctuations in international coffee futures market prices. For example, since the COVID-19 pandemic began, due to extremely tight maritime shipping combined with a series of extreme climate disasters within Brazil, global coffee bean prices doubled within just one year.

However, everyone might be surprised to learn that the cultivation history of Brazilian coffee spans just over three hundred years. Before the 1720s, there were actually no coffee trees in Brazil. At that time, a Portuguese officer stationed in Brazil received orders to go to French Guiana to resolve territorial disputes between France and the Netherlands, but the Portuguese officer and the local governor's wife became enamored with each other. Upon returning to Brazil, the governor's wife sent a bouquet of flowers that contained coffee seeds. Later, coffee quickly adapted to Brazil's climate and thrived.

Rapid Development and Market Expansion

After the 1770s, Brazilian coffee beans developed even more rapidly. At that time, the American people protested against Britain's Tea Act, leading to the Boston Tea Party, which established coffee as a patriotic beverage. The number of cafes in North America increased, and demand for Brazilian coffee beans surged accordingly. Simultaneously, such enormous economic benefits brought more comprehensive transportation infrastructure to Brazil, with railways extending directly to coffee plantations, greatly reducing both time and costs for coffee bean transportation and making the entire process more convenient.

Soon after, the American Civil War broke out, and coffee became an essential military necessity for both Northern and Southern armies, further expanding demand for Brazilian coffee beans. At that time, Brazil cultivated the Typica variety. Although Typica coffee offers elegant flavors, its yield is relatively low. Consequently, some embarked on a journey to find high-yield coffee varieties, and the Bourbon variety from Réunion Island was introduced to Brazil for this reason. By the 1870s, Bourbon variety coffee had become the main variety of Brazilian coffee beans.

Innovation in Processing Methods

By the 1930s, due to the Great Depression in the United States, large quantities of Brazilian coffee beans accumulated in warehouses with no sales outlet. Eventually, vast amounts of Brazilian coffee beans had to be burned to return coffee bean prices to normal, and later a more comprehensive system was even established.

By the 1990s, in order to sell Brazilian coffee beans to various parts of the world as quickly and in large quantities as possible, Brazilian authorities wanted to use the washed processing method. However, since not every region in Brazil has sufficient water resources and adequate funds to permit such operations, the pulped natural processing method was developed. This pulped natural method involves removing the skin and pulp of coffee cherries and directly sun-drying the parchment beans with their mucilage layer. By removing the skin and pulp, the drying time was shortened to some extent, and the quality of green beans was further improved.

In the early 21st century, Costa Rican authorities, similarly aiming to shorten the processing time of green coffee beans and improve their quality, drew inspiration from Brazil's pulped natural method and developed the honey processing method, giving Costa Rican coffee the reputation of being "sweet as honey."

FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian Selection

On FrontStreet Coffee's bean menu, there are two coffees from Brazil. One is FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian Red Bourbon coffee from the Cerrado region of Minas Gerais state, and the other is FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon coffee from the Mogiana region of São Paulo state.

Many coffee beans in FrontStreet Coffee's daily series use the processing method that best expresses the regional terroir, which is the washed processing method. However, since some regions' characteristics also come from their most traditional processing methods, some post-processing methods for green coffee beans follow local traditional methods, such as semi-washed and pulped natural. Brazil uses the pulped natural method, which imparts Brazilian coffee beans with richer fruit aromas, heavier body, and noticeable sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee: Brazilian Red Bourbon Coffee Beans
Region: Cerrado region, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Altitude: 1000 meters
Variety: Red Bourbon
Processing Method: Pulped Natural

Another coffee bean on FrontStreet Coffee's menu, also from Brazil, is FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon coffee beans. The Mogiana region where Queen Estate is located is a historic coffee-growing region in Brazil, and Queen Estate's excellent quality is recognized by many. Since Brazil held the first Cup of Excellence (COE) competition in 1999, Queen Estate has won awards multiple times over the years, once holding a record of 12 awards in 7 years.

FrontStreet Coffee: Brazilian Queen Estate Coffee Beans
Region: Mogiana region, São Paulo, Brazil
Estate: Queen Estate
Altitude: 1400 meters – 1950 meters
Variety: Yellow Bourbon
Processing Method: Natural processing

Queen Estate has a planting area of about 280 hectares, with more than 200 hectares dedicated to the lower-yield but superior-flavor Yellow Bourbon coffee variety. Modern scientific verification has confirmed that the Yellow Bourbon coffee variety is a natural mutation of the Red Bourbon variety, documented as being discovered in São Paulo state in 1871. This variety has a thicker mucilage layer and richer sugar content.

This FrontStreet Coffee Brazilian Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon coffee uses small-scale natural processing, where whole coffee cherries are spread evenly on raised beds for sun-drying, preserving more sugar content and allowing more sugar to better penetrate into the green coffee beans. Since workers frequently turn the coffee cherries, unpleasant acidity and fermentation sensations are avoided. The natural processing method also makes the Yellow Bourbon coffee more sweet and delicious.

Brewing Recommendations

When brewing these two FrontStreet Coffee Brazilian coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using a KONO dripper, 88°C water temperature, and medium-coarse grind size.

Dripper: KONO dripper
Water Temperature: 88°C
Dose: 15 grams
Ratio: 1:15
Grind Size: 75% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve

First, pour 30 grams of hot water in a "の" shape to completely wet the coffee grounds and let bloom for 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, pour from the center with a small water stream, slowly circling to 125 grams for segmentation. When the water level in the dripper drops to just about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until reaching 225 grams, then stop. Wait until all water has completely dripped into the lower pot before removing the dripper. Total extraction time is approximately 2 minutes.

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