What are the main varieties of Brazilian coffee beans? Are the characteristics of the pulped natural processing method about drying halfway?

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

Brazil supplies more coffee than any other country, yet the names on the bag mean very little to most drinkers. This is a short guide to what is actually planted there and how the country dries it.

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Brazilian Coffee Varieties and Processing Methods

Brazil grows a large number of coffee varieties, with Red Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Mundo Novo, and Catuai currently the mainstays. Catuai, Acaia, Obata, Aramosa, Laurina, and others are also under cultivation and study. The Campinas Agricultural Research Institute in Sao Paulo is Brazil's renowned engine of coffee variety improvement, and the most widely planted Catimor in the world is a creation of Portuguese and Brazilian scientists.

Common Pulped Natural Processing

Pulped natural, also called semi-dry processing, is a method that receives far less attention than it deserves, and it is most commonly used in Brazil. Pulped natural was first known as "dehulled cherry coffee," a concept that originated in Brazil twenty years ago. The name described exactly what happens: the skin is removed before the cherries are dried, but all of the pulp and mucilage is retained. It sits between the natural and washed processes, and it can be divided further into pulped natural and honey processing.

Pulped natural was born in Brazil as a way to shorten drying time. In the first stage, the process looks much like washing: equipment such as that made by Pinhalense removes the pulp, and a water conveyor carries the parchment beans along. The coffee then enters the drying stage with the mucilage still on it. A small portion of that mucilage dissolves in the water, but most of it stays stuck to the bean, which is precisely the point.

Drying takes about 20 days. The dehulled coffee comes out looking light yellow, somewhere between a natural and a washed bean, and the flavor lands in the same middle ground, with more sweetness and body than a washed coffee. In the past this process was also called semi-washed.

Knowledge Point: The more mucilage left on the bean, the deeper its color becomes, and the more intense the sweetness and mouthfeel you can taste in the cup.

In Brief

FrontStreet Coffee is a coffee research hall, happy to share coffee knowledge with everyone. We share without reservation just to help more people fall in love with coffee, and we keep working through the technical side of processing so that the choices behind a bag are never a mystery.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Pulped natural is the process behind most of the Brazilian coffee that reaches a filter, and the FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon is a clean illustration of it. Cerrado is one of Brazil's best-known producing regions, recognized for high-quality beans, and this lot is a Red Bourbon, the variety you find most often across South America. Roasted medium, it shows creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel, and hazelnut aromas with a round body, no real acidity, and a light bitterness in the finish. It is comfortable in a pour-over, but also in a moka pot, a siphon, a French press, or pulled as a single-origin espresso.

If you want the same country through a different variety, the FrontStreet Brazil Queen Estate is a Yellow Bourbon from Mogiana near South Minas, grown on fertile red volcanic soil where the fruit develops a full aroma. Yellow Bourbon is a natural mutation of Red Bourbon, and it brings a cleaner fruit character, with a sugarcane-like sweetness alongside fruit and chocolate notes that other regions rarely deliver. Both coffees also explain why Brazil is the backbone of so many espresso recipes. The low acidity, balanced body, and approachable price make Brazilian beans the first choice in the FrontStreet Classic Blend, the nutty FrontStreet Signature Blend, the balanced FrontStreet Black Cocoa Blend, and the FrontStreet Commercial Blend designed for cafes, where they contribute chocolate and cream aromas and a gentle balance of sweet, sour, and bitter that keeps extraction stable from shot to shot.