Brazil Coffee Estate Itagucu Farm Brazil Coffee Variety Mundo Novo

Mundo Novo is Portuguese for "New World" and is widely cultivated in Brazil, especially on large coffee plantations. As much as 35% of Brazilian coffee comes from the Mundo Novo variety.

Mundo Novo is a natural hybrid of two Arabica varieties: Red Bourbon and Sumatra (a branch of Typica). It was discovered in 1943 in Urupês, São Paulo state, an agricultural town more than 400 kilometers north of the city of São Paulo. Another account places the initial discovery at Mineiros do Tiete, also in São Paulo state, with Urupês being where the original seeds were planted and true Mundo Novo branches selected. The variety was distributed to farmers in 1952, and its name was given by scientists from the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC). In 1977, IAC released a new generation of Mundo Novo.

Cultivation Characteristics

The Mundo Novo plant grows very tall, yields heavily, and adapts well thanks to a robust root system. The young leaves may be green or bronze, the ripe cherries are red, and the flavor is quite good. Its weakness is susceptibility to various diseases, including leaf rust and coffee berry disease. Later, the now-common Catuai variety was bred from a cross of Mundo Novo and Caturra.

Itagucu Estate

This FrontStreet Coffee Mundo Novo comes from Brazil's Itagucu Estate. "Itagucu" means "giant stone" in the Tupi-Guarani indigenous language — and sure enough, a huge stone sits on top of the estate! The owner, Alana Morri, is from Germany. She and her family bought the estate many years ago; until a few years ago there was even a distillery on the property, but now it only raises cattle and grows coffee.

The estate sits at 1350 meters above sea level and grows a single variety: Mundo Novo, one of the most common coffee varieties in Brazil. This coffee comes from the "Friends & Neighbours" program in Minas Gerais, initiated by FAL Café. Coffee from small farmers is sent to FAL Café's dry processing plant for hulling, and the target customers are specialty roasters such as Ozone.

FAL Café is a large processing facility and export company in Brazil that owns two farms of its own. The "Friends & Neighbours" project allows small farms like Itagucu to reach more buyers, aligning with Ozone's goals of "sustainability, traceability and transparency."

Coffee Details

FrontStreet Coffee Brazil Minas Gerais Itagucu Mundo Novo Natural

Origin: Brazil

Region: Minas Gerais

Farm: Itagucu

Producer: Alana Morri

Altitude: 1350 meters

Processing: Natural

Variety: Mundo Novo

Harvest Time: July-October 2016

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If this single-variety Mundo Novo lot sparks your interest in Brazilian coffee, FrontStreet Coffee's Brazil lineup is a natural next step. The FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon, a pulped natural lot from South Minas, is a classic Brazilian single origin: medium roasted, it pours out a rich nutty aroma of creamed peanuts, toast, caramel, and hazelnut, with a round, smooth cup — no sourness, just a light pleasant bitterness — and works equally well as pour-over, moka pot, siphon, French press, or espresso SOE. For something rarer, the FrontStreet Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon from Mogiana, grown on fertile red volcanic soil, offers a cleaner fruit character and a sugarcane sweetness you will not find in other origins, along with fruit and chocolate notes. And if you prefer your Brazil in espresso form, FrontStreet's espresso blend series — the crema-rich Classic Blend, the nutty Premium Blend, and the balanced Black Cocoa Blend — all built on a Brazilian base, deliver chocolate and cream aromas with soft, stable acidity and bitterness that keeps extractions consistent.