When you think about coffee, one country should come to mind first: Brazil. This South American country is the center of all coffee, and Brazil produces the most coffee in the world by a fair margin. To put that in perspective, you could combine the next four coffee-growing countries, and they still wouldn’t surpass the coffee production of Brazil.
With over 200K coffee farms, and more than 30 growing regions producing more than 61 million bags of coffee annually that produce both Arabica (approx. 70%) and Robusta (30%) beans, along with many styles such as peaberry, you are more likely to have consumed coffee beans from Brazil.
Brazil has the most complex and detailed coffee classification globally and one that can easily rival Europe’s wine system. Brazil’s coffee beans are mostly grown in the southeast, and their beans are not limited to espresso Brazilian coffee beans.
Their flavor profiles are the most diverse globally and range from respectable chocolate notes to intense sweetness with respectfully low acidity. What is unique about Brazil is that they are also a large consumer of coffee, whereas most other countries export their high-quality coffee beans, which will change in the near future.
The reason may be that most of their beans are unwashed or semi-washed, which is the most detailed and natural process and damages the beans, making this challenging to harvest.
The next time you find out that the beans you are about to try are from Brazil, know that they are naturally harvested and produced from a country with the most robust and detailed coffee system globally and the most diverse flavor profile.