Brasil produces 35-40% of the world's coffee. 40% in years with bumper harvests and 35% in years when frost, drought or coffee rust mess up the growing season. Brasil is to coffee what Saudi Arabia is to oil, as a coffee trader we know recently put it. When Brasil sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold.

Brasil production is mostly given over to low grown, mechanically harvested Arabica coffees, used as fillers in commercial blends. Unlike other similarly marketed growing regions such as Vietnam, however, Brasil also has a sizable sub-sector that produces excellent mild, high grown coffees, and it's a rare small roaster that doesn't include these coffees in its inventory. The best growing regions are in Cerrado, Sul Minas and Mogiana, although there is some wonderful coffee coming out of Bahia in the north as well. A certain Chapada Diamantina coffee from Bahia, that we've brought in over the years, is easily one of our favorite coffees from anywhere. 

Anyhoo. This Fazenda Sertaozinho Pulped Natural comes to us from Minas Gerais, home to some of the consistently best Brasil coffees. It's superb coffee. Mild and sweet, it surprises with the absence of the usual peanut shell notes that one expects with Brasil coffees. It's got a good amount of citric acidity, and sugarcane sweetness. Good for espresso, and excellent everyday drinking coffee.

Producer: Fazenda Sertãozinho

Region: Bothelos, MInas Gerais

Country: Brasil

Elevation: 3000 feet

Cultivars: Yellow Bourbon, Pulped Natural

Attributes: Bakers Chocolate, Orange, Sugarcane