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BrazilBrazil is a coffee giant . As Frank Sinatra sang, “they grow an awful lot of coffee in Brazil”.: Brazil is a coffee giant . As Frank Sinatra… is the largest producer of arabicaArabica refers to Coffea Arabica, the taxonomic species name of the genus responsible for around 75% of the worlds commercial coffee crop.: Arabica refers to Coffea Arabica, the… coffee and not a small amount of robusta
Ateng is a common name for Catimor coffees widely planted in Sumatra and other Indonesia isles.: Ateng, with several subtypes, is a common name for Catimor coffees widely… too. Brazilian coffee is nutty
Nutty is a broad flavor term, reminiscent of nuts … but what kind exactly?: Nutty is a broad flavor term, reminiscent of nuts. It is tied intrinsically to…, sweet, low in acidity
Acidity is a positive flavor attribute in coffee, also referred to as brightness or liveliness. It adds a brilliance to the cup, whereas low acid coffees can seem… and develops exceptional bittersweetBittersweet is from the language of chocolate, and describes the co-presence of positive bittering compounds balanced by sweetness. It is directly related to caramelization, but has inputs from… and chocolate
A general flavor or aroma term reminiscent of chocolate. But what type? Usually described with more specifics.: Chocolate is a broad, general flavor or aroma term reminiscent of… roast tastes. There’s a long tradition of roasting Brazil in the United States. Brazil is roasted and sold as a single-origin coffee — by region, cooperative or FazendaFazenda is the Portuguese word for farm, hence it is the term used in Brazil. Fazenda is not a coffee-specific term. — but it is often used in blends for the sake of cost control.
Brazil coffees are common in espressoA small coffee beverage, about 20 ml, prepared on an espresso machine where pressurized hot water extracted through compressed coffee.: In its most stripped-down, basic form, this is…, both in high-end blends and in commercial coffees like Dunkin Donuts. Even the broken fragments of beans and the dust from the dry mills is sold, ending up in some awful coffee product somewhere, most likely instant. But there is quality coffee Brazil, it just takes some good relationships and cupping
Cupping is a method of tasting coffee by steeping grounds in separate cups for discrete amounts of ground coffee, to reveal good flavors and defects to their fullest…. work to find.
Flavor Profiles
There’s the big push on behalf of Brazilian coffee growing associations to create the image of their coffees as a distinct flavor profile, but there just isn’t the extreme distinction that identifies one Brazilian coffee from another. Attention to good farming and processing techniques has helped, but the coffee is grown at lower altitudes than most Specialty coffee, in poor quality soils, in open areas that were often originally grassland (a reason why the “shade-grown” criteria really doesn’t apply much to Brazil).
What is true with Brazil is true with all other coffee-producing origins as well. People outside the coffee trade want clear distinctions about quality: Is Brazilian coffee good? Those within the coffee trade are happy to provide the answer roasters and consumers want to hear: “Yes- it’s good!” But the question itself is flawed. Every origin with the capability to produce good coffee can produce horrible coffee as well. Farms side-by-side can produce differing qualities of coffee, and within the a single farm or cooperative there is a full spectrum of coffee cup quality. The real question is to ask is whether each lot tastes good, where a “lot” means one batch of coffee processed through the mill. That question is answered in comparative cupping of the coffees for taste quality.
As far as Brazil goes, the issues are complexThe co-presence of many aroma and flavor attributes, with multiple layers. A general impression of a coffee, similar to judgments such as “balanced” or “structured”. Here is a country that produces relatively few containers of coffee that truly cup from 84-87 points, and a staggering quantity of coffee that cups below 80 points, commercial-grade coffee. As far as coffees that are truly 88+ points, I feel this is not only rare from Brazil, but nearly impossible, given the varietals and bean densityThe density of a coffee bean is often taken as a sign of quality, as a more dense bean will roast more with a better dynamic. The density…. Yes, relative to other Brazils and the classic flavor profileFlavor Profile implies a graphical impression of a particular coffee, whether it be an artistic portrait or data graph of the perception of flavor compounds. In the case… of these lower grown, soft coffees, they can go higher. But on a global scale, can a Brazil reach the ranges of the best EthiopiaEthiopia, formerly known as Abyssinia, or a coffee cultivar: Ethiopia, or more specifically the Empire under Haile Selassie, was known as Abyssinia. The name is Latin, derived from…, KenyaKenya is the East African powerhouse of the coffee world. Both in the cup, and the way they run their trade, everything is topnotch.: Kenya is the East…, ColombiaColombian coffee is highly marketed and widely available in the US. They have been largely successful at equating the name Colombian Coffee with “Good” Coffee. This is half-true…. or GuatemalaGuatemalan coffee is considered a top quality coffee producer in Central America. Due to our proximity to Guatemala, some of the nicest coffees from this origin come to… wet-processed coffees? I don’t think so.
Then again, Brazil coffees are solid, crowd-pleasing coffees with outstanding bodyAssociated with and sensed by mouthfeel, body is sense of weight and thickness of the brew, caused by the percentage of soluble solids in the cup, including all…, and nut-to-chocolate roast tones. They also appeal to the palate than finds acidity, the flavorful brightnessA euphemistic term we use often to describe acidity in coffee. A bright coffee has more high, acidic notes. : A euphemistic term to describe acidity in coffee…. in better coffees, somehow annoying. And nothing touches a really good Brazil coffee as a base in espresso blends, for the ease with which they produce good physical characteristics (mouthfeelHow a coffee feels in the mouth or its apparent texture, a tactile sensation : A major component in the flavor profile of a coffee, it is a… and cremaCrema is a dense foam that floats on top of a shot of espresso. It ranges in color from blond to reddish-brown to black. Blond crema may be…) as well as nice base flavor.
See our current selection of Brazilian Coffees at Sweet Maria’s.
Country Profiles:
Brazils are not complex coffees, and don’t have impressive acidity that adds a vivid brightness to coffees from higher-grown areas of Guatemala, or Ethiopia. But Brazils are a different sort of beast than those origins. Brazils are not dense coffee seeds: they are grown at lower altitudes than Central American coffees. Hence the very dark roasts of Brazil coffees pick up ashyThe smell or taste of ash, such as an ashtray, cigarette smoke, or fireplace. Often a roast defect.: A quality in aroma or flavor similar to that of…, bittering flavors. For espresso, you can roast Brazils lighter, separately, or keep the entire blend at a Vienna roastVienna roast occurs at the beginning of second crack. The Vienna stage is where you begin to find origin character eclipsed by roast character.: Vienna roast occurs at… or lighter.
There are 3 methods of processingThe removal of the cherry and parchment from the coffee seed.: Coffee is either wet-processed (also called washed or wet-milled) or dry-processed (also called wild, natural or natural… Brazil coffees of interest to us; Dry- Process (Natural), Pulped Natural, and Semi-WashedAn uncertain term to describe a coffee processing technique somewhere between wet-process and dry-process: Semi-washed has been used, most commonly in Brazil, to describe a hybrid coffee process….. They produce different types of cups. The Natural has great body, chocolate, possibly fruityIn some coffee taster’s lexicon, “fruity” means the coffee is tainted with fruit, and “fruited” means a coffee is graced by positive fruit notes. We don’t exactly see… notes … and it risks being earthier and more rusticA general characterization of pleasantly “natural” flavors, less sophisticated and less refined, but appealing. : What is Rustic? This is a general term we came up with… Dried… in the cup. The Pulped Natural is created when the coffee cherryOriginally coffee literature referred to the fruit of the tree as a “berry” but in time it became a cherry. It is of course neither. Nor is the… skin is removed and the parchmentGreen coffee still in its outer shell, before dry-milling, is called Parchment coffee (pergamino). In the wet process, coffee is peeled, fermented, washed and then ready for drying…, with much of the mucilage
Mucilage indicates the fruity layer of the coffee cherry, between the outer skin and the parchment layer that surrounds the seed. It readily clings to the inner parchment… attached, is sun-dried on patio or raised drying bed. This coffee cups like the more like Natural coffee, but is a bit cleaner in the cup. The Semi-Washed uses a demucilager machine to remove the skin and the mucilage. The Semi-Washed ranges in character from being close to Pulped Natural in flavor profile, to being similar to a wet-processed coffee (clean cupClean cup refers to a coffee free of taints and defects. It does not imply sanitary cleanliness, or that coffees that are not clean (which are dirty) are…, uniform, less body, less chocolate, a bit brighter).
I like good naturals and pulped naturals (called cereja descascada in Brazil). They have more intensityWe have a simple scale to rate intensity in our coffee reviews, from Mild to Bold. Low intensity does not mean low quality!: We have a simple scale…, produce more crema, but I have to cup them rigorously to watch for defective cup character. On the other hand, really clean Semi-Washed, where a lot of the mucilage is removed, do not have typical Brazil character to me. Yes, these coffees score higher and they are now totally dominating the Cup of ExcellenceThe Cup of Excellence is a competition held yearly in many coffee-producing countries, designed to highlight the very best coffees from each origin.: The Cup of Excellence (COE)… competition. But if you want a cleaner, brighter cup, the standard is set elsewhere, not Brazil. Go buy a good Central American coffeeCentral American coffee is known for its “classic,” balanced profile.: Central American coffee is known for its “classic,” balanced profile. Centrals are primarily wet-processed since the climate is….
For espresso, I used to employ natural Brazils in blends, then changed them in favor of more consistent (and less quakery) pulped naturals. Now we only use Brazils in a couple blends, and I could imagine a day when we don’t use any! The coffees are soft (the opposite of dense) and can lack the kind of sweetness we hold dear in espresso.
The trick is that Brazils prefer a lower initial roast temperature and can turn quite ashy tasting when roasted too dark. My personal preference is that Brazils for espresso are rested quite a while after roasting — in fact I had a straight pulped natural I roasted to a light Vienna for espresso, and I kept testing the cup because 2 days after roasting it was too lively, nippy – almost like a baking soda effect on your tongue. After 18 days it became one of the deepest. heavy bodied espresso I ever had! I am not saying coffee should be rested that long after roasting (especially other methods like French PressA simple coffee brewer also called a Press Pot: grounds and hot water are added to a carafe, allowed to sit for several minutes, and then a filter…, Drip etc, which fade after as little as 7 days!), but if you don’t have a good initial experience with a Brazil espresso, don’t toss it – try it after a week, or even two. As far as the type of Brazil, Illy is said to use 100% pulped natural and semi-washed.
Most quality Brazil I have found comes from the Sul de Minas: Carmo de Minas, Cerrado and Matas de Minas. Cerrado region is, apparently, not a name many Brazilians recognize … at last not those I have spoken with. Cerrado is a savanna-like area, dry and flat, in Minas Gerais state. They produce a lot of coffee, and there are some un-blended single farm lots that are good. Two micro-regions in Cerrado were of special interest to us: Chapadao de Ferro and Serra do Salitre. Now we focus efforts to the southeast of there.
People ask me about “Santos” coffee: Santos is a port, not a producing region. Coffee labeled Santos is pooled from market-grade lots and the lowest common denominator expresses itself as the primary cup character.
See our current selection of Brazilian Coffees at Sweet Maria’s.
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