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Brazilian Coffee Beans: Brewing Flavor Characteristics, Taste Varieties, Grading, Growing Regions, Processing Methods and Introduction to Brazilian Coffee Culture

Published: 2026-01-28 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/28, Brazil is the world's most important coffee producing region, with total output accounting for one-third of the world. Brazil has 10 states that produce coffee beans. Due to differences in geography and climate, quality inevitably varies. Therefore, Brazilian coffee beans are graded by level from No.1-No.3, Screen18, Sc

Where Does the Most Coffee Come From? Brazil, Of Course!

Brazil is currently the world's largest coffee producer, home to large-scale commercial coffee treated as commodities as well as specialty coffee led by COE (Cup of Excellence). Although Brazil's coffee production is enormous, it's regrettable that FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian coffee offerings currently only occupy two "slots" both online and offline. Why is this? If you carefully study FrontStreet Coffee's bean menu, you'll find that each coffee has its own unique characteristics. That's because FrontStreet Coffee hopes everyone can treat their physical stores as experience shops, first considering providing consumers with as many regional flavors as possible, thus choosing coffees that represent classic regional flavors. FrontStreet Coffee believes that Brazilian coffee has stable flavors but also certain uniformity, which of course is closely related to Brazil's highly mechanized production.

Come and learn about the two Brazilian coffee beans sold at FrontStreet Coffee stores! First, let's proudly introduce FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian Daily Bean!

FrontStreet Coffee · Brazil Cerrado Daily Bean

Country: Brazil
Region: South Minas
Altitude: 1000 meters
Variety: Red Bourbon
Processing: Pulped Natural
Flavor: Nuts, chocolate, cream, peanut, caramel

FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Cerrado coffee beans come from Minas Gerais state. The representative coffee producing regions in Minas Gerais include Cerrado and South Minas, both high-altitude areas. Cerrado is located in the western part of Minas Gerais state, a flat plateau at elevations of 750m-1200m. South Minas consists of hilly terrain at elevations of 700m-1200m. Since 1999, among the farms that won in Brazil's Cup of Excellence competition, South Minas has the highest number. FrontStreet Coffee was drawn to South Minas's characteristic of high-yield, high-quality coffee beans, which is why FrontStreet Coffee positioned its daily bean here.

The flavor is related to the bean variety. Red Bourbon is what we generally call the Bourbon variety. When coffee cherries mature, they present a wine-red color, and the coffee beans are relatively round. Bourbon varieties grown at high altitudes typically have excellent aroma and bright acidity, with flavors similar to red wine when tasted. However, the fermented aroma is not only related to the variety; the special pulped natural processing method is also one of the sources of flavor.

Before 1990, Brazilian coffee almost entirely used rough dry processing methods, which made Brazilian beans susceptible to woody or earthy flavors because coffee cherries had to undergo two to three weeks of sun exposure. When it rained and became humid, moldy flavors could easily develop. To change this situation of being dependent on weather, in 1990 Brazil leveraged its relatively dry climate characteristics and developed the pulped natural method to shorten processing time.

Pulped natural processing removes the skin and pulp of coffee cherries, allowing control over the fermentation degree of mucilage-covered beans after depulping. Traditional natural processing involves drying with skin and pulp, making it impossible to monitor the fermentation degree of mucilage. The pulped natural method is介于 dry and washed processing, but without the "fermentation tank washing, clear water rinsing" process of washed processing, instead going directly to sun drying. Although the methods seem similar, without the fermentation step, the coffee bean flavors are completely different. During pulped natural processing of removing coffee cherry skin and pulp, ripe pulp comes off easily, while unripe green cherry skins are difficult to process, allowing for a second screening to filter out unripe fruits and standardize cherry maturity. Compared to natural processing, FrontStreet Coffee believes that this selection and processing improves coffee bean cleanliness and maturity, bringing more uniform tasting coffee.

The introduction of pulped natural processing doesn't mean all Brazilian producing regions use it. The lower humidity Cerrado region still mainly uses natural processing, with pulped natural being secondary there. However, the Red Bourbon from the Brazil Cerrado region that FrontStreet Coffee acquired uses pulped natural processing, with the goal of amplifying the fermented flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee has another Brazilian coffee bean on its menu: FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil Queen Farm. This coffee bean comes from Brazil's Mogiana region, very close to southern Minas. Coffee is planted among shrubs, grasslands, and other vegetation. In this area, there are many farming families, some of whom use traditional large-scale farm operations, while others adopt small-scale modern operations. Modern technology combined with mountain coffee cultivation culture has created the highest quality green coffee beans. Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee discovered that coffee beans from this region have cane sugar-like sweetness. Let's look at this coffee's green bean information:

FrontStreet Coffee · Brazil Queen Farm Natural Yellow Bourbon

Region: Brazil Mogiana Region
Farm: Queen Farm
Altitude: 1400-1950m
Variety: Yellow Bourbon
Processing: Natural Processing

Unlike Brazil's large-scale harvesting and processing, Queen Farm uses refined natural processing, solving the quality degradation problem caused by Brazil's large-scale centralized processing.

FrontStreet Coffee specifically chose Yellow Bourbon coffee beans, different from the Cerrado Red Bourbon. When this variety's coffee beans mature, they don't turn red like regular coffee cherries but yellow. It was first discovered in Brazil in 1930 and currently grows mainly in Brazil. It's generally believed to be a mutation resulting from hybridization between red-fruited Bourbon and a yellow-fruited Typica variant called "Amerelo de Botocatu" (discovered in São Paulo state in 1871). Due to its lower yield and less resistance to wind and rain, it wasn't widely cultivated. However, when grown at high altitudes, it exhibits excellent flavor performance and has become more common in recent years.

When FrontStreet Coffee received Brazilian green beans, they discovered an interesting phenomenon: on Brazilian coffee bean sacks, you can see information like "Brazil NY.2 SC – 17/18 FC." After investigation, they found this is Brazil's unique three-part grading method, not used by other countries. The reason is that the production area is too large and produces too many beans. To prepare coffee flavors specifically for export, these coffee beans are often mixed, resulting in inconsistent quality that requires "cupping" grading. This way, consumers can roughly understand the coffee's quality just by seeing the green bean information.

Brazilian coffee grading can be said to be very complex, generally considering three aspects: defect rate, screen size, and cupping quality.

1. Grading by Defect Rate

Brazilian coffee uses a "deduction method" evaluation, ranking grades according to the number of defective beans per 300 grams of main beans. There are seven levels from No.2 to No.8. Deductions below 4 can be classified as No.2. Having no defective beans would certainly qualify as No.1, but this situation is rare and cannot maintain a certain supply volume, so Brazil sets No.2 as the highest grade rather than No.1.

2. Grading by Bean Size

Screen Size: This is screened using a sieve based on 1/64 inch standards, with sieve sizes typically ranging from 14-20. It should be noted that the corresponding screen size refers to the coffee bean's short side, that is, its "width." The largest screen size for Brazilian coffee beans is 19, but production is limited, so 17/18 screen size is considered the highest grade.

3. Cupping Quality

It should be known that Brazilian coffee was once synonymous with "low-quality coffee." Farmers pursued quantity over quality, even mixing in soybeans, small stones, and other debris. Since Brazilian coffee was named after its export port, the largest port, Rio (Rio de Janeiro), also became "notoriously bad" coffee beans! The emergence of COE was precisely to change the quality of Brazilian coffee beans, and the NY grading system also standardized Brazilian coffee quality standards! Therefore, Brazilian coffee was later removed from the "low-quality bean" category.

So what kind of flavor presentation do current Brazilian coffee beans have? Next, let's follow FrontStreet Coffee to explore the mysteries of brewing!

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Suggestions:

Dripper: V60
Dose: 15g
Water Temperature: 90°C
Grind Size: Medium grind, 70% pass-through rate with #20 standard sieve
Water Ratio: 1:15

FrontStreet Coffee uses staged extraction. The bloom water amount is twice the coffee dose, meaning 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom. Using a small stream, pour in circles to 125 grams, then pause. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225 grams and stop. The total extraction time is 2 minutes.

[FrontStreet Coffee Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon] Flavor: High sweetness, clean, smooth, low acidity, with peanut, almond, nut, and chocolate flavors.

[FrontStreet Coffee Brazil Queen Farm Natural Yellow Bourbon] Flavor: Balanced mouthfeel, with almond and cocoa as the main notes, highlighting cane sugar sweetness, making it a coffee with good body and full sweetness.