What Coffee Does Brazil Produce? The Flavor Profile of Brazilian Coffee Beans and Their Taste Characteristics

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Brazilian Yellow Bourbon

Did you know that Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer—and also its second-largest coffee consumer? What Brazil grows carries enormous weight in the global market, because the country supplies nearly 45% of the world's coffee beans. That is why a drought or a poor harvest in Brazil is enough to move prices everywhere else.

Brazilian beans are mainly used as the base of espresso blends, where they are all but indispensable. But don't assume that everything Brazil produces is ordinary—the country also grows genuinely specialty-grade coffee.

Yellow Bourbon is Brazil's flagship specialty variety and the finest coffee the country offers. It is the main reason Brazilian coffee has succeeded on the world stage, and it has collected a long list of competition awards along the way.

The Bourbon name comes from Bourbon Island (now Réunion), and Yellow Bourbon is a natural mutation of the Bourbon variety. Its cup is excellent, yet because the plant is vulnerable to wind, rain and pests, yields are extremely low—which makes it a true standout among Brazil's specialty coffees.

Yellow Bourbon's characteristics are easy to identify. Where most coffee cherries turn red as they ripen, Yellow Bourbon matures to a golden yellow, setting it apart from other varieties and giving it its name. In the cup it offers moderate body, nutty flavors and a long, lingering aftertaste.

In short: everything here is shared purely for the love of coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you would like to taste what Brazil does best, start with the FrontStreet Brazil Cerrado Red Bourbon. Cerrado is one of the country's best-known growing regions, and this classic single-origin bean—a Red Bourbon, the variety most common across South America—is roasted to a medium level. It pours out creamy peanut, toasted bread, caramel and hazelnut aromas, with a round, mellow body that is low in acidity and carries a gentle touch of bitterness. It is versatile enough for pour-over, the moka pot, espresso SOE, the siphon and the French press alike.

To explore Brazil's rare yellow-fruited mutation, choose the FrontStreet Brazil Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon from Mogiana, near South Minas, where fertile red volcanic soil lets the cherries ripen with concentrated aroma. It shows a cleaner fruit character than most Brazilian coffees, with the sugarcane-like sweetness, fruit and chocolate notes that are hard to find elsewhere—brew it as pour-over, in a moka pot or on a home espresso machine. Because Brazil is also the backbone of great espresso, FrontStreet folds these same beans into its blends: the Classic Blend, FrontStreet Coffee's Premium Blend, the Dark Cocoa Blend and FrontStreet Coffee's Commercial Blend all rely on Brazilian coffee for their chocolate and cream aromas and their soft, balanced sweet-sour-bitter profile.