Coffee cultivation in Brazil

There is some Brazilian coffee in almost every cup of espresso and in most canned coffee and major roasters’ blends. In Brazil coffee is grown on some 2.5 million ha (5.5 billion trees) between latitudes 10 to 24 ° S, mostly on gently sloping land, often with high-tech cultivation practices.

Brazil is the largest Arabica producer in the world, and coffee plantations are composed of 73% Arabica and 27% Robusta trees. Coffee plantation in Brazil vary from relatively small (5-50 ha) and medium-sized (50-200 ha) to very mechanized large plantation (200-3000 ha).

Most of the coffee plantations in this country are situated in the highlands that are gently rolling with occasional pronounced escarpments. Though over parts of the Brazilian Plateau, coffee is grown up to an altitude of more than 1000 meters most of it is grown in areas situated between 600 and 800 meters on the rolling surface.

Almost all the coffee in Brazil is grown without shade. Weeds are controlled with combination of re-emergent herbicides and intercropping with native leguminous plants and monocots.

A green cover of spontaneous species is maintained by mechanized trimming and diluted solution and herbicides plus liquid fertilizer. The harvest season in Brazil extends from May to August. This is the relatively cool dry season in the Southern Hemisphere tropics.

Arabica coffee is traditional harvested by the stripping method and dry-processed to produced ‘natural’ coffees. Fruits from stripping harvest include several ripening stages (green, green ripe, ripe, overripe and dry).

Brazilian coffee requires a lower initial roasting temperature, since this is far healthier than over-roasted or very dark roasted coffee. Lots of people prefer a really good natural dry process - more cream, more chocolate, more body, and some fruit note.
Coffee cultivation in Brazil