Brazilian Espresso Red Bourbon Coffee Beans: Flavor Characteristics, Grade, Export Production, and Blending Ratios

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Brazilian coffee has long been beloved by coffee enthusiasts for its rich, low-acidity profile and delightful nutty and cocoa aromas. In FrontStreet Coffee's daily bean series, there is a Brazilian coffee bean with distinct chocolate and nutty flavors, featuring a moderate, smooth body—making it the perfect choice for those who dislike acidic coffee. FrontStreet Coffee not only includes Brazilian coffee in its daily bean series but also features Brazilian coffee beans in its seasonal drip coffee bag series. This demonstrates Brazil's indispensable role as a coffee-producing nation in classic coffee flavors.

Coffee Growing Regions

Brazil is located in the Western Hemisphere's Latin American region, situated in eastern South America along the western coast of the Atlantic Ocean. On land, it borders all countries on the South American continent except Ecuador and Chile. The vast majority of its territory lies between the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn, making it the country with the most extensive tropical range in the world. One-third of the country has a tropical rainforest climate, while two-thirds have a tropical savanna climate. These superior tropical natural conditions are highly suitable for the growth and production of coffee, a tropical economic crop.

FrontStreet Coffee's "Brazilian Daily Bean" comes from Minas Gerais state. The representative coffee growing regions in Minas Gerais include Cerrado and Sul de Minas, both of which are high-altitude areas. Cerrado is located in the western part of Minas Gerais and is a flat plateau with elevations ranging from 750m to 1200m. Sul de Minas consists of hilly terrain with elevations between 700m and 1200m. Since 1999, the majority of farms that have won Brazil's Cup of Excellence auction competitions are located in Sul de Minas.

Coffee Variety — Red Bourbon

Bourbon coffee was initially cultivated on Réunion Island, which was also known as Bourbon Island before 1789. The Bourbon variety is a sub-variety that resulted from a mutation of Typica and belongs to the oldest existing coffee varieties along with Typica. When green fruits mature, they present a bright red color. Generally, after Red Bourbon coffee trees flower and bear fruit, the color change of coffee cherries follows this pattern: green → light yellow → light orange → mature red → darker ripe red. Therefore, some people call it "Red Bourbon variety." In fact, Red Bourbon is what we generally refer to as the Bourbon variety.

Bourbon varieties grown at high altitudes typically have superior aromas and brighter acidity, sometimes even exhibiting wine-like flavors when tasted. Simply put, Bourbon is a coffee variety belonging to a branch of the Arabica species. It generally bears red fruits, called Red Bourbon. Besides this, there are also Yellow Bourbon and Orange Bourbon. Yellow Bourbon has relatively lower yields but better quality.

Brazilian Coffee Processing Methods

Due to its vast territory and enormous production, Brazil has long used natural processing as its primary method. The washed process cannot support such large-scale coffee bean production, which has led to the industry's ingrained perception of Brazilian coffee as crude (though this doesn't mean all Brazilian coffee is inferior—coffee from famous estates can be of quite good quality).

After 1990, Brazil promoted the pulped natural method (also called semi-washed), which involves removing defects and floaters in water tanks, then using machines to remove the skin, pulp, and some mucilage, followed by washing, and finally drying in the sun or in drying rooms. Compared to the washed process, the pulped natural method saves water and labor, enabling a significant improvement in Brazilian coffee quality and reversing the long-standing negative perception of crudely processed natural Brazilian coffee.

Brazil Has No Grade 1 Coffee Beans

If you encounter Grade 1 Brazilian coffee beans, they are definitely fake. Brazil believes only completely defect-free beans can qualify as NY.1, and completely defect-free beans do not exist. Therefore, the best grade among Brazilian green beans is NY.2.

The NY grading system is the coffee bean grading method used in Brazil, which includes comprehensive considerations of bean size, defect count, and cupping scores, with the highest grade being NY.2.

What Are the Uses of Brazilian Coffee Beans?

Brazilian coffee beans have enormous production, so they flow into various coffee processing sectors. Some are used for instant coffee, some for blended coffee, and some for specialty coffee. It's worth emphasizing Brazilian beans used for blended coffee—the famous Mamba blend uses Mandheling and Brazilian beans to simulate Blue Mountain coffee flavor. In FrontStreet Coffee's bean list, Brazilian coffee beans are also excellent ingredients for making espresso blends.

FrontStreet Coffee's Specialty Espresso Blend:

Colombia: Brazil, ratio 3:7, 100% Arabica

Flavor characteristics: Comfortable bittersweet taste, extremely smooth on the palate; with a faint grassy aroma, fresh and slightly bitter; smooth and sweet, with a pleasant aftertaste. Using medium-dark roasting, when making espresso, it has soft, slight acidity, clean sweetness, and nutty aftertaste. The overall sensation is not too stimulating, balanced, with moderate crema.

FrontStreet Coffee's Commercial Espresso Blend:

Colombia: Brazil: Robusta; ratio 3:6:1, pre-blended

In terms of individual bean flavor, commercial beans produce coffee flavors that are much inferior to specialty coffee beans. Generally, commercial beans are chosen for blending. Through proper blending, they can also produce coffee with excellent taste, suitable for making lattes, cappuccinos, and other espresso-based drinks. When we use our commercial blend for espresso, because it contains Robusta beans, the crema will be richer, with a classic flavor, caramel sweetness, nutty and cocoa-like dark chocolate flavors, balanced sweet and sour, with a slight bitterness and a long aftertaste.

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