Brazilian Coffee Regions: Minas Gerais Coffee Estate Cultivation and Flavor Characteristics

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Brazil: The World's Largest Coffee Producer

Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer, accounting for approximately 30% of global coffee production. However, due to Brazil's location in the tropical rainforest region, the terrain is relatively flat with few high-altitude mountain forests. Most coffee is grown in low-altitude, non-volcanic soil areas, and there isn't much tree shade for protection. This results in disadvantages such as rapid growth of Brazilian beans, large bean size but low density, and limited flavor variation. Additionally, large-scale mechanical harvesting of coffee beans with vastly different maturity levels collected simultaneously means Brazilian coffee quality hasn't been particularly outstanding, remaining in the commercial bean category.

After 2000, due to incentives from coffee competitions, the quality of coffee beans produced in the high-altitude regions of the south gained recognition. Particularly, farms around the Minas highlands have become dominant, with both the highest quality and largest quantity. For example, Cerrado in western Minas and Matas de Minas in eastern Minas, or northern Bahia and southern small farms—Minas has almost become synonymous with Brazilian specialty coffee.

In recent years, coffee competitions have become more precisely categorized by processing methods (washed, semi-washed, honey, natural), developing various flavors, textures, and aftertastes that present a completely different profile from traditional Brazilian coffee. Honey and natural processing methods perform particularly well, increasing clean, low-acidity fruit aromas while reducing rich chocolate notes.

Minas Gerais state in Brazil has almost become synonymous with Brazilian specialty coffee, showcasing the unique characteristics of Brazilian beans through different processing methods in recent years.

Brazilian Coffee Regions Overview

Population: 201,033,000 people

Brazil has many different coffee varieties, many of which were developed or evolved here, including Mundo Novo, Yellow Bourbon, Caturra, and Catuai.

Minas Gerais

Located in southeastern Brazil, Minas Gerais state has several of the country's highest mountain ranges, providing the altitude needed for coffee cultivation.

Coffee regions, coffee varieties, coffee beans, Brazilian regions, coffee training

CERRADO

The word Cerrado means tropical savanna. Although this term can refer to the vast grasslands stretching across several Brazilian states, when used for coffee, it specifically refers to the Cerrado region in western Minas Gerais state.

This region is a relatively new coffee-producing area, and perhaps for this reason, it mainly consists of large-scale, mechanically harvested coffee farms. Over 90% of coffee farms in this region exceed 10 hectares.

SUL DE MINAS

This region has traditionally been the source of most Brazilian coffee, with many small-scale farmers who have passed down their farms through generations. Perhaps for this reason, cooperatives here have flourished.

Although small-scale coffee production is quite common, this region still has many quite industrialized areas and also uses mechanical harvesting. Many areas in the region have recently attracted attention, including Carmo de Minas. This municipality surrounding the village of Carmo has many producers who make good use of the local soil and climate to produce excellent coffee.

Brewing Recommendations from FrontStreet Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee recommends the following parameters when brewing coffee beans from Minas Gerais, Brazil:

Recommended brewing method: Pour-over

Dripper: KONO dripper

Water temperature: 86-88°C

Grind size: Medium grind, similar to sugar granules

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:13-1:14

Extraction time: Around 1 minute 50 seconds

Extraction technique: Segmented extraction.

Use 17g of coffee grounds. First, bloom with twice the weight of the coffee in water (34g of water) for about 30 seconds. When the coffee bed begins to dry, the blooming phase can end. Use a gentle large water flow to pour in circles until reaching 120-130g, then pause. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until reaching about 221g to finish. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper.

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