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Brazilian Coffee History: Origin Regions, Altitude Environment, and Flavor Profile

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, The Portuguese introduced coffee to Brazil in the 18th century, quickly establishing Brazil as the world's largest coffee producer. By 1920, Brazil was supplying over 80% of the world's coffee. In 1999, the first-ever Cup of Excellence was held in Brazil. Brazil's coffee growing regions are primarily concentrated in the southeastern part of the country.

The Story of Brazilian Coffee

With its high production volume, Brazilian coffee has ranked first in coffee exports for over a century. Most specialty coffee shops offer at least one Brazilian single-origin coffee or an espresso blend containing Brazilian coffee, demonstrating its significant impact on the entire coffee industry. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will share knowledge about Brazilian coffee.

The earliest recorded history of coffee cultivation in Brazil dates back to the eighteenth century when Brazil belonged to Portugal. A Portuguese captain from Brazil, Francisco de Melo Palheta, won the favor of the governor's wife of Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana, and brought coffee seeds from there to Brazil. Coffee quickly adapted to Brazil's terroir, gradually spreading from the north to the southeastern state of São Paulo, where it began to be widely cultivated. By 1845, Brazilian coffee production accounted for 45% of the world's coffee, becoming São Paulo's main source of economic income.

Brazilian Coffee Bean Growing Regions

According to data from the Brazilian Coffee Association, coffee is produced in more than 14 states, with 7 states accounting for nearly 90% of the total production. As we can see from the map, the western region primarily grows Robusta varieties, while higher-quality Arabica is concentrated in the southeast. Here FrontStreet Coffee mainly introduces two representative coffee regions: Minas Gerais, Brazil's largest coffee-producing area, and São Paulo, Brazil's earliest coffee cultivation area.

Minas Gerais state's annual coffee bean production accounts for nearly half of the country's total, including four major producing regions: Cerrado, Sul de Minas, Chapada de Minas, and Matas de Minas. The Cerrado region, sharing its name with the Cerrado savanna, specifically refers to the Cerrado area in western Minas Gerais when discussing coffee production. Its flat terrain and concentrated harvest season are ideal for large-scale managed harvesting, with many exporters establishing coffee farms here, most covering over 10 hectares. The other three regions, due to their undulating terrain and steep hills, primarily rely on smallholder manual production.

São Paulo state encompasses the well-known Brazilian coffee region Mogiana. The area's name comes from the Mogiana Railroad Company, which established the "coffee railway" in 1883. This also led to the emergence of better transportation methods, further expanding coffee production in the region. The Mogiana region has an altitude of 900-1,100 meters, an average annual temperature of about 20°C, and hilly terrain that gives coffee good sweetness and balance. Due to the terrain, estate production primarily relies on manual harvesting. The Queen's Estate coffee on FrontStreet Coffee's menu comes from Mogiana.

Queen's Estate (Fazenda Rainha) is one of Brazil's top specialty estates. As a winning estate in the first Brazil Cup of Excellence (COE) competition, its quality is exceptional. Over the years, it has won numerous awards of various sizes, all thanks to the high-quality coffee produced by Queen's Estate. FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian Queen's Estate coffee is selected from the Yellow Bourbon variety. Yellow Bourbon is a variant of Bourbon cultivated in Brazil, whose fruits appear yellow due to recessive genes. Yellow Bourbon coffee beans are inherently sweet, clean, well-balanced, with tropical fruit aromas.

Brazilian Coffee Green Bean Processing

Located in the tropics, Brazil's harvest season coincides with the dry season, allowing coffee cherries to be dehydrated and dried directly through sun-drying. However, traditional natural processing is quite crude, with cherries spread directly on muddy ground after picking, resulting in coffee that often carries earthy flavors. To improve coffee quality, Brazil invented the semi-washed (semi-dried) method after 1990, also known as Pulped Natural.

Processing steps: After picking, coffee cherries are first sorted to remove leaves, stones, and other impurities, then poured into water tanks where underripe cherries are removed through flotation. Machines remove the peel, pulp, and part of the mucilage layer, followed by one hour of washing. Due to the short soaking and fermentation time, the mucilage is not completely washed away. The parchment coffee with some remaining mucilage is then spread on drying patios to dry.

The pulped natural method not only saves water resources but also reduces labor costs. Compared to traditional natural drying, it takes less time, so it's widely used in Brazil. FrontStreet Coffee's Brazilian Cerrado daily coffee uses pulped natural processing, with multi-stage sorting that greatly improves the cleanliness of the coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee's another Queen's Estate coffee uses refined small-batch natural processing. Large-scale production might cause over-fermentation due to infrequent turning, creating undesirable fermented flavors. Queen's Estate's entire green bean drying process takes place on African raised beds, thus avoiding earthy and fermented flavors, with its sweetness elevated to another level compared to traditional pulped natural processing.

Processed Brazilian coffee green beans are graded according to three different standards: defects, size, and cupping, which is also Brazil's more complex grading system compared to other coffee-producing countries. The grade information of green coffee beans is marked on jute bags in the format of "Country + Defect Grade + Cupping Profile + Size + Cupping Flavor Grade + Origin."

For example, the bag of Brazilian Cerrado green coffee beans purchased by FrontStreet Coffee is marked "Brazil NY.2 SC – 17/18 FC Cerrado," which means it's produced in the Cerrado region of Brazil, with a size of 17-18 screen, SC representing Strictly Soft (very smooth cup profile), FC representing Fine Cup (excellent cupping quality), and a defect grade of NY.2. Since NY.1 means no defective beans at all, such selected batches cannot be stably supplied, so Brazil has set NY.2 as the highest grade in the defect classification system.

Brazilian Coffee Flavor Characteristics

Classic Brazilian coffee has basic flavors of nuts, cocoa, chocolate, and toast. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee's two Brazilian coffee beans are both medium-dark roasted to highlight their rich, low-acidity characteristics.

Some coffee enthusiasts notice that the flavor differs from what they taste in the shop after purchasing coffee beans and brewing them at home. FrontStreet Coffee includes a QR code about brewing on each coffee bean package, which can be scanned to view information. Everyone can refer to the brewing parameters above for adjustments. Below, using Brazilian Queen's Estate coffee as an example, we will explain the brewing approach of FrontStreet Coffee's barista.

FrontStreet Coffee's Queen's Estate coffee uses a medium-dark roast level. Medium-dark roasted coffee significantly changes the internal structure of the beans, making them more porous, and the ground coffee absorbs water more strongly. If brewing parameters are not adjusted properly, the coffee can easily become over-extracted and bitter. To achieve sufficient aroma without over-extraction, it's necessary to reduce the extraction rate. FrontStreet Coffee will use lower water temperature and coarser grind to reduce the release of bitter large molecules from the coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's barista consistently uses KONO dripper to extract coffee beans that express richness. The KONO dripper's only exhaust area is the one-quarter rib section. When the water level rises above the rib area, the water volume in the dripper continues to increase, creating pressure through the weight of the water. Due to the relatively small outlet, it can prolong the contact time between coffee particles and water, allowing water flow to more effectively extract soluble substances, thereby enhancing the coffee's rich and full-bodied taste.

Pour-over Parameters

87-88°C water temperature, medium grind (70% pass-through rate on China standard #20 sieve), coffee grounds: 15g, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, three-stage pour.

Wet the coffee bed with twice the amount of coffee grounds in water, forming a dome for a 30-second bloom. Then, using a small water stream, pour in a circular motion from inside to outside until reaching 125g for the first segment. Wait until the coffee bed drops to half the height of the dripper, then continue with the same fine water stream for the third pour to 225g. Remove the dripper once all coffee liquid has filtered through, taking about 2 minutes. Finally, swirl the coffee in the server to enjoy.

The pour-over Brazilian Queen's Estate coffee is overall rich and full-bodied with a clean taste. The flavors change with temperature, offering multiple layers. It has nut and caramel aromas, with chocolate, nut, and caramel notes, and a very pleasant sugarcane sweetness with high balance.