Brazil is the largest coffee producer in the world and it is an origin that plays an important role in many coffee roasters green bean inventory.  A coffee from Brazil is typically known to exhibit chocolatey, low acid, nutty and sweet flavour notes with a good body.  These flavour notes are only a stereotypical reference of Brazil coffee and this changes drastically depending on elevation, variety, processing method, region and farm.

We use Brazil coffee as a base for some of our blends and also offer it as a single origin dark roast.  Over the last few years our sources from Brazil have been from larger cooperatives or a collection of larger farms generally from the Cerrado region. 

As a coffee roaster, we have evolved over the years with attempts to source the best coffee we can.  With the help of our importer, we secured a harvest from a specialty coffee farm in Brazil.  This farm was first introduced to us in early 2019.  We trialled some of their coffee in our Meebz Blend and were getting an increase in sweetness without losing too much body that the Meebz Blend is famous for.  Moving forward, we made a decision to secure our first lot for the next harvest arriving in 2021 and it’s here!

For us, the greatest advantage of securing this harvest is consistency.  Not only are we getting better tasting blends but having the consistency of the same coffee allows us to know what we are working with to get the roast profile correct every roast.

Farm

This lot of Brazil is from a cooperative of farms that is renowned for producing specialty grade arabica coffee of exceptional quality with a distinct profile of excellent sweetness, featuring a balanced body and acidity.  The region in Mogiana is located on a plateau with an altitude of 800 – 1,200 metres being one of the highest cities or the region and the state.

Variety 

The variety of coffee grown is named ‘Mundo Novo’.  This is the result of a natural cross of the Bourbon and Typica varieties.  It was first discovered in 1943 in Brazil (source). 

This variety is acceptable to many different climates and soil types being more resistant to frost.  It has a good uniformity of ripeness.

Sustainability and Ethics

To work with a sustainable and ethical coffee farmer is a crucial component of the selection and is as important as the quality.  Working with this Brazilian estate supports environmental sustainability being one of the first companies to be Rainforest Climate Module Certified in Brazil, along with UTZ and Rainforest Aliance (RFA) certified.  More on RFA and its associated campaigns here.

On an ethical and community level the company seeks a commitment to the socio-cultural development of the community in the form of numerous projects that benefit many people and organisations in the community.  Some of these projects include the support to the Municipal Nursery Alaide Quercia, the Volunteer Program of Farm Workers, Reforestation Project, Family Garden, Environment Conferences and Training Courses for employees and their families.

*All photos are from the estate taken by O'Coffee.