Brazilian Coffee

Adultery, deceit and politics, all the makings of a modern-day best-seller, yet this story is over 250 years old and what ultimately led to brazilian coffee. In 1727 a Brazilian official named Francisco de Melho Palheta was invited to mediate a heated border dispute between French and Dutch Guiana. Both governments were actively growing coffee in Guiana and closely guarded their financial interests by not allowing the exportation of viable coffee seeds.

Palheta quickly accepted the invite with hopes of somehow getting some seeds for planting coffee in Brazil. Whilst in Guiana Palheta became romantically concerned with the French Governors other half. On his exit, after successfully mediating an answer to the border issue, the Governors other half presented him with a spray of flowers in which she had masked many coffee seedlings.

The Brazilians quickly learned the fundamentals of growing coffee with stress on quantity over quality, which remains the prevalent philosophy when it comes to growing coffee in Brazil. Brazil is obviously the biggest producer of coffee worldwide with over 40 % of all coffee coming from this country. However, the overwhelming majority is of debatable quality and what the major commercial processors like Folgers, Maxwell House etc? Depend on as the base product for their mixes. By adding small quantities of better quality coffee they may be able to boost flavour, body and scent and supply a product that is sufficient to the masses at a fair cost. The production of coffee in Brazil had a dark side. As the cultivation of coffee in Brazil grew, so did slavery. Without enough local work to deal with the constantly rising requirement for coffee, the Brazilian Presidency imported slaves by the thousands.

By 1828 well over 1,000,000 slaves, just about a 3rd of the people, worked on the coffee plantations. In reply to pressure from the English Govt , who had outlawed slavery and were boycotting Brazilian slave-grown coffee, Brazil half-heartedly outlawed slavery.

Though importation of slaves fell, it didn't stop and the two-million or so slaves that were already in the country remained in bondage. It'd be another 50 years before slavery was really annulled. As production of coffee in Brazil modernised, modern being a relative term for a third-world country. Some growers established a name for providing top quality coffee and rimmed their way into the Yankee specialty market. The best coffee in Brazil comes from the area around San Paulo and is named for the port thru which it is exported, Santos. Santos is famous for its smooth flavour, medium body and moderate astringency. Whilst Santos is the best coffee in Brazil, it remains far from unusual when put next to other gourmet coffees of the globe.

Even with the reputation of providing low-grade coffee to the masses, the impact Brazil has had on the world coffee trade is definite. Without Brazilian coffee to stabilise the market, coffee costs might be 3 to 4 times what they are. Imagine paying $15-20 for an one pound can of Folgers. I, for one, am thankful to Brazil for providing the world with inexpensive coffee.

More about Brazilian coffee, the plantations

Have you tasted coffee from Guatemala ?