How does coffee bean processing shape Brazilian flavor?
Brazil, the world's largest coffee producer, grows beans known for low acidity, nutty notes and a full body. The profile comes from low altitude, flat terrain, few microclimates and the local habit of sun-drying cherries. The article covers Brazilian growing regions, the grading system, Bourbon variety traits and pulped natural processing.
A Front Street lot of yellow bourbon from Brazil's Queen's Estate illustrates the approach, with its roasting curve, cupping report and brewing parameters. Brewing uses a Kono dripper at 89 degrees Celsius for the South Minas beans. Coffee bean processing choices, along with the NY.2 SC 17/18 FC grade, shape what ends up in the cup.
Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer, and its coffee beans are known for low acidity, nutty notes, and a full-bodied mouthfeel. This article systematically reviews Brazil's coffee-growing regions, grading system, Bourbon variety characteristics, and pulped natural processing method, and provides a detailed analysis of Front Street Coffee's roasting curve, cupping report, and brewing parameters for the Yellow Bourbon coffee beans from Brazil's Queen's Estate. From Sul de Minas to Cerrado and Mogiana, from the meaning of the NY.2 SC 17/18 FC grading to the practical technique of using a Kono dripper at 89°C water temperature, this offers coffee lovers a complete guide to understanding and brewing Brazilian coffee.
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Coffee has been rooted in Brazil for over three hundred years. Today it is not only one of the country's most important economic pillars, but also keeps Brazil firmly in the top spot for global coffee production. After cupping Brazilian coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee concluded that Brazilian coffee beans have relatively low acidity, moderate nutty flavors, chocolatey sweetness, and a full-bodied mouthfeel. The formation of this flavor profile is closely related to Brazil's natural conditions—low altitude, flat and uniform terrain, a lack of microclimates, and the local long-standing habit of sun-drying coffee cherries—which together create Brazil's characteristic soft-bean style.
Reduced rainfall in Brazil in 2020 will lead to a decline in Brazilian coffee bean production in 2020-2021!
In early to mid-October 2020, although rainfall occurred in Brazilian coffee-growing regions, local media reported that the amount was extremely limited, leaving coffee farmers deeply worried. Overall, the October rain slightly eased the local high temperatures, but was far from enough to fill the moisture deficit and improve the growing conditions of the coffee crop. Arabica coffee was hit especially hard, with the flowering period in almost all Arabica-producing regions delayed by unfavorable weather. As of October 15, coffee flowers in Minas Gerais and the Franca region had already begun to drop sporadically. If sufficient rainfall still does not follow, the currently blooming flowers may all fall, and production is bound to shrink.
International investment bank ItauBBA released its latest view, stating that due to the dual factors of insufficient rainfall during the flowering period and an off-year in production, Brazil's 2020/21 coffee production is expected to decline by 14% to 21%, ultimately landing between 53.6 million and 58.3 million bags. Since Brazil accounts for more than one-third of global coffee production, a reduction in Brazil may directly flip next year's global coffee supply-demand situation from a surplus of 9.8 million bags this year to a shortage of 1.7 million to 6.5 million bags. In addition to the rainfall problem, excessively high temperatures are also unfavorable for coffee growth—among the ideal growing conditions for Arabica coffee, an average temperature exceeding 23°C constitutes stress. However, in late September and early October, average temperatures in Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Paraná all reached 28 to 30°C.
Brazilian Coffee-Growing Regions
As mentioned earlier, Brazil's Arabica coffee-growing areas are mainly concentrated in Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Paraná. Whether Brazil's coffee bean production is abundant or poor depends critically on how well Minas harvests; and Minas' harvest, in turn, depends on its three major sub-regions: Sul de Minas, Cerrado, and Mogiana. Brazilian Arabica coffee mainly comes from southern Minas (Sul de Minas) and central Minas (Cerrado), and the Arabica produced in Minas accounts for 66.7% of Brazil's total Arabica coffee beans.
Sul de Minas
This region has an altitude above 1,100 meters, with rolling foothills and diverse terrain, distinct dry and rainy seasons, large day-night temperature differences, and rich microclimates. It is suitable for cultivating Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon with excellent flavor, and naturally became a main producing region for specialty coffee.
Cerrado Region:
The Cerrado savanna must be mentioned—this grassland has one of the most complex arrays of species in the world. But as far as the Cerrado coffee-producing region is concerned, not all coffee grown on the savanna can be called Cerrado; only areas at altitudes of 1,100 to 1,300 meters deserve that name, and these contain the finest sections of the Cerrado—high altitude and fertile soil. Front Street believes that the coffee beans produced in this area are clean and sweet, with high body, and without any earthy or musty taste.
Mogiana
This area is very close to southern Minas. Coffee trees are planted among shrubs, grasses, and other vegetation. The region is home to many growing families; some continue the traditional large-farm operating model, while others adopt small-scale modern operations. The integration of modern technology with mountain coffee-growing culture has produced the highest-quality green coffee beans. Through cupping, Front Street found that the coffee beans produced in this area carry a clean sweetness like cane sugar.
Brazilian Coffee Bean Grading System
We usually see information like this on sacks of Brazilian coffee beans: Brazil NY.2 SC 17/18 FC. This is a three-part grading method unique to Brazil, not used by other countries. The reason is that the producing area is too large and too many beans are produced. In order to formulate coffee flavors specifically for export, different coffee beans are often blended together, resulting in inconsistencies in quality, which must be graded by "cupping." In this way, consumers can generally judge coffee quality simply by looking at the green bean information.
1. Grading by Defect Rate
Brazilian coffee uses a "demerit point" evaluation, classifying grades according to how many defective beans are contained in each 300 grams of primary beans. There are seven levels from No.2 to No.8. A demerit score below 4 can be classified as No.2. A complete absence of defective beans could of course be called No.1, but this situation is extremely rare and cannot maintain a stable supply, so Brazil sets No.2 as the highest grade rather than No.1.
2. Grading by Bean Screen Size
Screen size: screening is done with mesh screens based on 1/64 inch, and the screen sizes usually range from 14 to 20. It should be noted that the screen number corresponds to the short side of the coffee bean, that is, the "width." Among Brazilian coffee beans, the largest screen size is 19, but production is not high, so 17/18 screen is regarded as the highest grade.
3. Cupping Quality
fine cup | fine | good cup | fair cup | poor cup | bad cup | FC (Fine Cup) and GC (Good Cup) are relatively common. Many companies or platforms also add information such as processing method (natural/washed/honey) and estate.
4. Flavor Grade
Brazilian coffee beans are classified into five major categories according to flavor grade: Strictly Soft → very smooth, Soft → smooth, Softish → slightly smooth, Hardish → not smooth on the palate, Rioy → medicinal/iodine-like harsh taste. The cupping result for Brazil-Cerrado coffee beans by the local coffee association is Strictly Soft Fine Cup, which is the best grade. In summary, Brazil NY.2SC – 17/18 FC Cerrado means: country Brazil, defect grade 2, green bean screen size 17~18, fine cup quality, produced in Cerrado. This is also the Brazilian component bean that FrontStreet Coffee has always used in its blend.
Brazilian Coffee Bean Varieties
Brazil mainly grows Bourbon coffee beans. Bourbon is a branch of the Arabica coffee variety Typica, native to Bourbon Island in the Indian Ocean (now called Réunion). It is generally grown mainly in Central and South America, including El Salvador, Brazil, Rwanda, and Panama. Early Bourbon coffee was a variant after Ethiopian Typica was transplanted to Yemen. The biggest difference in appearance between Bourbon coffee beans and Typica is that the leaves are broader, the coffee cherries they bear are smaller, and production is denser; therefore, compared with Typica, the fruit is smaller and rounder. Bourbon is a frequent winner in Central and South American specialty coffee cupping.
Generally, ripe coffee cherries are red, but ripe Bourbon coffee appears yellow, so it is commonly called Yellow Bourbon. In Brazil, the world's largest coffee-exporting region, Yellow Bourbon accounts for less than 1% of production, making it quite precious and rare. Characteristics of Yellow Bourbon coffee beans: relatively difficult to cultivate and lower-yielding. The roasted coffee beans present a dry yet sweet taste, with nutty and cocoa/chocolate-like aromas. Yellow Bourbon beans are generally processed using the pulped natural method (or semi-washed method). Some Bourbon varieties carry fruity notes, and the aroma and sweetness during brewing are especially delightful.
Characteristics of Red Bourbon coffee beans: after a coffee tree flowers and bears fruit, the color of the coffee cherry changes from green → slightly yellow → slightly orange → ripe red → more mature dark red, so some people also call it "Red Bourbon." In fact, Red Bourbon coffee beans are what we generally call Bourbon. Through cupping different Brazilian coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee found that Bourbon grown at high altitude usually has better aroma, brighter acidity, and can even taste somewhat like red wine.
Brazilian Coffee Bean Processing Methods
Before 1990, Brazil almost entirely used rough natural processing, which made Brazilian beans prone to picking up musty wood or earthy flavors, because the coffee cherries had to undergo two to three weeks of sun exposure; if rain and moisture returned, moldy odors easily developed. To change this situation of depending entirely on the weather, in 1990 Brazil made strict use of Brazil's relatively dry climate characteristics and developed the pulped natural method to shorten processing time.
Pulped natural removes the skin and pulp of the coffee cherry and can control the fermentation degree of the mucilage-covered coffee beans after pulping. Traditional natural processing dries the beans with the skin and pulp still on, making it impossible to see the fermentation degree of the mucilage. The pulped natural method lies between natural and washed processing, but omits the washed process of "tank fermentation and clean-water rinsing," instead putting the beans directly in the sun to dry. Although the methods may look similar, without the fermentation step the flavor of the coffee beans is completely different. In the pulped natural method, during the removal of the coffee skin and pulp, fully ripe pulp is easy to remove, while the skin of unripe green cherries is not easy to remove, so a second screening can be carried out to filter out unripe fruit and unify the ripeness of the coffee cherries.
Compared with the natural method, Front Street believes that coffee beans selected and processed this way have improved cleanliness and ripeness, bringing coffee with a more uniform mouthfeel. The introduction of the pulped natural method does not mean that all Brazilian regions use it. The lower-humidity Cerrado still mainly uses natural processing, and pulped natural is instead a supporting method in Cerrado. However, the Red Bourbon from the Cerrado region that FrontStreet Coffee sourced is processed using the pulped natural method.
The most popular coffee at FrontStreet Coffee is the Yellow Bourbon coffee bean from Brazil's Queen's Estate.
Country: Brazil
Region: Mogiana
Altitude: 1400～1950m
Variety: Yellow Bourbon
Processing Method: Natural
FrontStreet Coffee Brazilian Coffee Bean Roasting Analysis
The green beans are solid in texture and perform well in flavor, with a slight orange peel and spice aroma. The green bean moisture content is 9.9%. These beans have relatively low moisture content, which gives the beans strong heat absorption capacity. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee's roasting plan is to charge the beans at 200°C, then use high heat and a small airflow opening to speed up dehydration. After the dehydration stage ends, open the airflow to medium and use medium heat for the Maillard reaction. Do not rush the time too much, and drop the beans near the end of first crack.
Yangjia 800N, charge amount 550g: preheat the roaster to 200°C and charge the beans, adjust the heat to 150, set airflow opening to 3, turning point at 1'30", maintain heat, turn yellow at 5'10", grassy smell disappears, entering the dehydration stage, lower heat to 125, open airflow to 3.5. At 8'20" dehydration is complete, the bean surface shows wrinkles and dark streaks, the toasted-bread smell turns into coffee aroma, a prelude to first crack. At 178°C lower heat to 80. At this point pay attention to listening for the sound of first crack. At 9'14" first crack begins, open airflow fully to 5. Development time after first crack is 3'00", drop at 201°C.
FrontStreet Coffee Brazilian Coffee Bean Cupping Report
FrontStreet Coffee conducts cupping within 8-24 hours after roasting sample coffee beans. The cupping bowls generally used by FrontStreet Coffee's roasters are 200ml ceramic bowls, marked with 150ml and 200ml scale lines. According to SCAA standards, the water TDS is about 150ppm; too low TDS easily causes over-extraction, while too high affects the mouthfeel and easily causes under-extraction. The water temperature used for cupping is 94°C. According to SCAA cupping standards, the grind size is controlled so that the pass rate through a No. 20 standard sieve (0.85 mm) is 70%-75%. Ratio: 11 grams of coffee powder plus 200 ml of hot water, that is 1:18.18, so that the extracted concentration falls exactly within the golden cup range of 1.15%-1.35%. Steeping time: 4 minutes.
Brazil Queen's Estate Cupping
Dry aroma: roasted nuts, cinnamon
Wet aroma: roasted nuts, peanuts
Flavor: roasted nuts, peanut butter, fermented fruit, cane sugar sweetness
FrontStreet Coffee Brazilian Coffee Bean Brewing Notes
Dripper: Kono
Water temperature: 89°C
Dose: 15 grams
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: medium-fine grind (75% pass rate through China No. 20 powder sieve)
FrontStreet Coffee's brewing method uses 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, then pours in a small stream in circles to 125 grams for a stage break. When the water level is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225 grams and stop pouring. When the water level is about to expose the coffee bed again, remove the dripper. (Timing starts at the beginning of the bloom.) Extraction time is 2'01".
Brewed flavor: sweet bean character, clean; using pulped natural processing makes its acidity slightly bright yet excellently reconnected with sweetness, and some even have tropical fruit aromas, especially the overflowing aroma during brewing, which is even more delightful. The fresh sweetness of sugarcane juice, black tea, soft and smooth fruit sweetness, obvious nutty flavor, balanced and smooth acidity, weak and clean bitterness, rich chocolate aroma and nutty flavor, a bright and refreshing mouthfeel, and a silky, delicate texture.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
