What Are Brazilian Coffee Beans? What Are the Flavor Characteristics of Brazilian Coffee? Is Pour-Over Brazilian Coffee Delicious?

As the world's largest coffee producer, coffee is as important to Brazil as tea is to us. While you might see single-origin Brazilian coffee less frequently, as it's often used for espresso blends, FrontStreet Coffee's Cerrado coffee from the daily bean series and the Yellow Bourbon from Queen's Farm in the single-origin selection are quite popular!

Of course, using Brazilian beans for espresso blends is closely related to their flavor profile. If someone asks FrontStreet Coffee for a coffee that's neither acidic nor bitter, FrontStreet Coffee would immediately recommend Brazilian coffee. So what is the flavor of Brazilian coffee? As we know, American coffee beans have balanced flavors with nutty, caramel, chocolate, and peanut notes—rich and smooth. When you first taste it, you might notice a strong roasted peanut flavor. The overall flavor is quite balanced, which is why Brazilian beans are often chosen for blends. At the same time, for friends who don't like acidity and bitterness, Brazilian coffee is an excellent choice!

The Legendary Story of Brazilian Coffee

Let's explore the legendary story of Brazilian coffee as the world's largest coffee-producing nation:

Brazilian coffee cultivation has a rather legendary history. According to FrontStreet Coffee's research: Brazilian coffee was introduced to Brazil in the 1720s from French Guiana. A Portuguese captain from Brazil, Francisco Palheta, captured the heart of the governor's wife of Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana at the time, successfully bringing coffee seeds into Brazil. From then on, coffee quickly adapted in Brazil, spreading from the north to São Paulo state in the southeast and Paraná province in the south. These areas have slightly higher latitudes and experience winter frosts, causing severe losses for coffee farmers.

From 1970-1980, Brazilian farmers developed the warmer Minas province and Bahia in northern São Paulo state. Here, winters are warm without frost, and to this day, Minas province has become one of Brazil's main specialty coffee-producing regions.

Before 1990, the Brazilian government implemented strict controls over the coffee industry, with both harsh interference and price protection measures. The country consistently implemented minimum price protection for farmers, leading to coffee overproduction.

Since 1990, with the opening of the free market, the original "Brazilian Coffee Administration" (IBC) was replaced by the National Economic Association, a non-investment administrative agency. This association follows a non-interference policy, allowing producers and exporters to negotiate directly. Exporter activities are supervised by government legislation, and relevant departments register legitimate exporters. From three hundred years ago to today, coffee has become Brazil's most important economic source, and Brazil has become the world's largest coffee-producing country.

Brazilian Coffee Regions

The altitude and flavor of coffee are closely related. For example, with Panama Geisha coffee, higher altitude and harsher environments result in better flavors. Compared to other Central and South American producing countries, Brazil's altitude is noticeably lower. The terrain here is flat and monotonous, lacking microclimates, and there's a preference for using unshaded (full-sun) cultivation methods, thus developing Brazil's unique soft bean flavor—low acidity, heavy nutty notes, sweet chocolate aroma with excellent body, though with slight woody and earthy notes, while floral and citrus notes are not prominent. Simply put, Brazilian coffee is relatively light, balanced, and you won't find the wild, uplifting acidity and citrus flavors typical of African beans.

Brazilian coffee beans are mainly concentrated in the central and southern regions, distributed across 7 states with approximately 14 coffee regions: South Minas, Minas Mountain, Chapada de Minas, Matas de Minas, Mogiana, Centro-Oeste de São Paulo, Montanhas do Espírito Santo, Conilon Capixaba, Cerrado, Planalto da Bahia, Atlantic Baiano, Paraná, Rondônia, and Cerrado. Among these, the most representative is undoubtedly the Cerrado region. It can be said that South Minas and Cerrado regions have contributed immeasurably to the rise of Brazilian coffee.

South Minas (Sul de Minas)

With elevations ranging from 700m to 1200m, this is a hilly region and Brazil's earliest coffee production area. Due to rising labor costs, most harvesting is now done mechanically, making it also the earliest commercialized coffee region. We can see many large exporters here. South Minas became a specialty coffee region largely due to its terrain and climate. Its altitude exceeds 1100 meters with varied topography. There are distinct wet and dry seasons, significant day-night temperature differences, and diverse microclimates, making it very suitable for cultivating Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon varieties.

Cerrado

The Cerrado region is located in the mountainous southern part of the "Cerrado grassland climate zone" in central Brazil, spanning eight provinces and covering approximately two million square kilometers. This vast grassland occupies 22% of Brazil's total area, deep in the Brazilian interior. Cerrado in Portuguese means "closed land." The Cerrado grassland originates from Mato Grosso province in southwestern Brazil, extending through central-west Minas to the western part of Bahia province. The so-called Cerrado Coffee Region refers to the area where the grassland extends into Minas province at elevations of 850∼1200 meters on plateaus. In Brazil's coffee region classification, this differs from "South Minas" (Sul De Minas), which is also located in Minas province. The flat, open terrain of the grassland is particularly suitable for establishing large estates, combined with distinct wet and dry seasons and a cooler plateau climate.

FrontStreet Coffee's reference to the Cerrado coffee region is not the entire Cerrado grassland, but limited to coffee cultivation areas above 1000 meters altitude in central-west Minas province. Only these areas can be called the Cerrado coffee region. This area represents the essence of the Cerrado grassland, with high altitude and fertile soil, capable of producing sweet, full-bodied specialty coffee beans with high cleanliness. FrontStreet Coffee believes that coffee from this region has a rich flavor without earthy notes.

FrontStreet Coffee's daily bean series includes a Frontsteet Brazil coffee that comes from Brazil's Cerrado region.

Mogiana

This area is very close to southern Minas. Coffee is grown among shrubs, grasslands, and other vegetation. In this region, there are many farming families, some operating traditional large farms while others adopt small-scale modern operations. The combination of modern technology and mountain coffee cultivation culture creates the highest quality green coffee beans.

Currently, FrontStreet Coffee offers two Brazilian coffee beans in-store: Red Bourbon from the Cerrado region and Yellow Bourbon from the Mogiana region.

Brazilian Coffee Varieties

There are many coffee bean varieties, and naturally, their flavors will differ. When you see FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian coffee packaging labeled with "Variety: Red Bourbon," you might wonder what variety this is? Ethiopia is known as the coffee gene bank with numerous varieties, some of which haven't been officially released, so they're labeled as local native varieties. So what are Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon? FrontStreet Coffee would like to introduce them to you:

Red Bourbon

Red Bourbon is actually a sub-variety resulting from a Typica mutation, belonging to the same category as Typica as one of the oldest existing coffee varieties. It typically produces red fruits, hence called Red Bourbon. Besides this, there are also Yellow Bourbon and Pink Bourbon. Red Bourbon refers to general Bourbon coffee trees where, after flowering and fruiting, the color change of coffee cherries follows: green → light yellow → light orange → mature red → darker red when fully ripe, thus earning the name Red Bourbon. Its flavor has excellent aroma with bright acidity, and when tasted, it even has wine-like characteristics. Red Bourbon is currently the most widely cultivated variety in Brazilian coffee regions.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian daily coffee beans are of the Red Bourbon variety.

Yellow Bourbon

Yellow Bourbon is also a genetic mutation of Bourbon. Bourbon has long been considered outstanding among coffee varieties due to its high yield and good quality. Yellow Bourbon is a unique Bourbon variant from São Paulo state, Brazil. Unlike Red Bourbon where coffee cherries turn red when ripe, Yellow Bourbon cherries turn orange-yellow, hence its name. Because Yellow Bourbon is grown at very high altitudes, its flavor is exceptional.

Yellow Bourbon typically has nutty and chocolate notes, with balanced and smooth acidity, weak and clean bitterness, creating an overall bright and refreshing taste.

The Frontsteet Brazil Queen's Farm coffee on FrontStreet Coffee's bean menu blackboard is of the Yellow Bourbon variety.

Brazilian Coffee Processing Methods

You've heard of washed and natural processing methods for coffee, but have you heard of pulped natural processing? FrontStreet Coffee has mentioned that coffee flavor is related not only to variety and climate but also to processing methods, which are in turn related to local climate conditions. Initially, Brazil mainly used natural processing. Since Brazil's climate is relatively dry, using natural processing was reasonable. However, natural processing is rather crude, easily causing Brazilian beans to develop woody flavors. When encountering rainy weather, there's also the risk of coffee beans molding, making it quite passive. Therefore, Brazil created a unique processing method called pulped natural, which significantly reduces the drying time.

Pulped Natural Processing Steps:

First, the skin and pulp of coffee cherries are removed. Ripe pulp is easier to remove, while unripe green cherry skins are difficult to process, so a secondary screening is done to standardize cherry ripeness. Pulped natural processing can control the fermentation degree of the beans with mucilage after depulping. Traditional methods cannot see the fermentation degree of the mucilage. Pulped natural processing lacks the "tank fermentation, water rinsing" process of washed processing, and without this fermentation step, the coffee flavor is completely different.

Compared to natural processing, FrontStreet Coffee believes that pulped natural processing significantly improves cleanliness and ripeness. FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian Cerrado daily beans use the pulped natural processing method.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Recommendations:

Regarding coffee brewing, FrontStreet Coffee has always believed that coffee bean freshness is a crucial factor. Fresh coffee beans allow you to experience the rich flavors of coffee to the greatest extent. Coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are all roasted within 5 days, because FrontStreet Coffee understands well that freshness has a significant impact on flavor. FrontStreet Coffee's roasting philosophy is "Freshly Roasted Good Coffee," ensuring that every customer receives the freshest coffee when placing an order. The coffee resting period is about 4-7 days, so when customers receive their coffee, it's at its peak flavor.

Of course, some customers need FrontStreet Coffee to grind the beans, which is fine. However, FrontStreet Coffee must remind you: once coffee beans are ground in advance, there's no need for resting, because during transportation, the pressure from carbon dioxide buildup in the packaging helps mellow the coffee flavor, so you can brew and drink immediately upon receiving the ground coffee. However, ground coffee needs to be brewed promptly, as coffee grounds oxidize quickly when exposed to air, meaning the coffee flavor dissipates rapidly and won't be as good. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends buying whole beans and grinding fresh before brewing to better taste the coffee's flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee's Brewing Parameters for Brazilian Coffee:

FrontStreet Coffee chose: KONO dripper, 88°C water temperature, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 15g of coffee, and grind size (75% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve).

Using segmented extraction, bloom with 2 times the coffee weight in water—that is, bloom with 30g water for 30 seconds. When reaching 125g, segment the pour, continue pouring to 225g then stop. Remove the dripper once the water has finished dripping. Start timing from the beginning of pouring, with an extraction time of 2'00". Next, take the entire cup and shake it gently, then pour into cups for tasting.

Frontsteet Brazil Pulped Natural Cerrado Coffee Flavor:

Notable sweetness upon entry, with subtle lemon aroma, rich nutty flavors, and distinct dark chocolate notes in the finish. The overall experience is quite rounded.

Frontsteet Brazil Queen's Farm Natural Yellow Bourbon Coffee Flavor:

Balanced mouthfeel with almond and cocoa as the main notes, highlighting cane sugar sweetness—a coffee with good fullness and abundant sweetness.

As for whether Brazilian coffee tastes good, FrontStreet Coffee believes this depends on personal preference. After all, everyone's palate is different, and preferred flavors vary. However, Brazilian coffee's balanced flavor is quite good. Of course, if you don't like this flavor, you can try FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian Yirgacheffe with its fresh, bright floral and fruit notes, or FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian coffee with its nutty, dark chocolate, and soft fruit acidity notes!

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473