Are Brazilian Coffee Beans Arabica? The Surprising Truth That Pulped Natural is the Ancestor of Honey Processing

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Brazilian Coffee Varieties and Processing Methods

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Brazil is the world's largest coffee producing country. Brazilian coffee beans are full-bodied, with mild aroma and character, moderate acidity and bitterness, and possess a smooth mouthfeel. They are representative of neutral coffees and make excellent choices both for individual tasting and for blending with other coffee beans.

Brazil is also continuously experimenting with premium coffee varieties. Whether it's the well-known Yellow Bourbon, Yellow Catuai, Mundo Novo, or the internationally popular Geisha variety, as well as various experimental varieties, all are cultivated in Brazil. Meanwhile, Brazil continues to research various anaerobic coffee processing methods, and coffee farmers are improving coffee quality through various cupping competitions.

As a coffee variety, Yellow Bourbon has been cultivated for nearly 90 years, but looking at its origins, namely its paternal and maternal varieties. In the 1850s, Brazil became the world's primary coffee producing country, and at that time, it mainly relied on the Typica variety. Typica was introduced to Brazil in the 1720s. Due to Typica's limited yield, exports decreased. At this time, a Brazilian traveled to Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar to obtain seeds of the Red Bourbon variety. By the 1870s, Red Bourbon had become the most common variety among Brazil's many coffee farms.

Then in 1871, something unusual happened. A mutant was born in the city of Botucatu that produced yellow fruit, which was unprecedented in Brazil and had no related records. This Yellow Typica mutant was called Yellow Botucatu at the time, but this variety's yield was not high. However, many farmers began planting this variety out of curiosity about the color of the fruit it produced. It's worth noting that some researchers believe Yellow Bourbon originated from a natural mutation of Red Bourbon.

Although coffee offers diversity, Brazilian coffee is suitable for popular tastes. For example, coffee produced in the northern coastal regions has a typical iodine flavor and is exported to North America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Another interesting and worth-seeking coffee is washed Bahia coffee. This coffee is not easy to find because, after the United States, Brazil is the world's largest coffee consumer, and many premium coffees can only be found in its domestic market. In Brazil, the largest production is of Robusta coffee, which is sold in supermarkets. Brazilian Robusta coffee is sold under the name Conillon, accounting for 15% of total production.

Some estates in the Cerrado region of Minas Gerais state in southeastern Brazil grow ancient Bourbon coffee. These estates, such as Capim Branco and Vista Allegre, also sell their old Bourbon variety coffee on the market.

Pulped Natural processing involves passing through a depulper to remove the outer skin and part of the mucilage from the coffee cherries. In Brazil, the name "Pulped Natural" became more common, which is actually the same coffee processing method of drying with some coffee pulp still attached. In most cases, Pulped Natural is closer to Yellow Honey. Other South American coffee-producing countries more commonly refer to it as Honey processing.

Knowledge Point: The more mucilage, the darker the bean color, and you can experience stronger and richer sweetness and mouthfeel.

In short: FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research hall, happy to share coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation, only to help more friends fall in love with coffee. Every month, there are three low-discount coffee events because FrontStreet Coffee wants to let more friends drink the best coffee at the lowest price. This has been FrontStreet Coffee's mission for the past six years!

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