Which Countries Grow Fair Trade Coffee

Fair trade coffee is grown across Latin America, Africa and parts of Asia, mostly in the equatorial band known as the coffee belt. Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Indonesia and Vietnam all supply certified beans. Growers join cooperatives that meet social and environmental standards to earn a set minimum price.

The coffee belt map runs roughly between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, where altitude, rainfall and temperature suit arabica and robusta. Fair trade certification adds inspections and a premium paid on top of market rates. Farms are usually smallholder plots, and the extra income often funds schools, clinics or better processing equipment.

Brazil firmly holds the top spot in global coffee production, supplying nearly 45% of the world's green beans, and its domestic consumption is second only to the United States. This South American giant has 17 coffee-producing states, with just 7 of them accounting for 98% of the nation's output. From the legendary tale of Officer Palheta bringing back Bourbon seeds three centuries ago to Minas becoming the new hope for specialty coffee today, Brazil's coffee landscape has continually evolved. This article systematically maps out Brazil's main producing regions, the characteristics of key varieties like Red Bourbon and Yellow Bourbon, and includes Front Street Coffee's hands-on pour-over parameters and flavor notes for Brazil Cerrado, giving you a comprehensive understanding of this indispensable coffee powerhouse for espresso blends.

For more specialty coffee knowledge, follow: Front Street Coffee (Frontsteet Coffee)

When it comes to coffee-producing giants, Brazil in South America is unmatched—it ranks first globally in both coffee-growing area and total output. Meanwhile, Brazil's domestic coffee consumption is also climbing year by year, now ranking second in the world, after the United States. Brazil boasts a rich variety of coffee, most of it unwashed and sun-dried, and in the trade it is typically classified by producing state and shipping port.

As the world's number one coffee producer, Brazil supplies about 45% of the world's green coffee beans. The length of the country's dry season can even sway international coffee market prices.

Brazil has 21 states in total, 17 of which grow coffee, and the 7 most productive states together contribute 98% of the nation's coffee beans.

São Paulo State (Mogiana, Centro-Oeste)

Paraná State (Norte Pioneiro do Paraná)

Bahia State (Planaltoda Bahia, Cerrado da Bahia, Atlantico Baiano)

Espírito Santo State (Montanhas do Espírito Santo, Conilon Capixaba)

Minas Gerais State (Sul de Minas, Cerrado Mineiro, Chapada de Minas, Matas de Minas)

Rondônia State (Rond?nia)

Rio de Janeiro State (Rio de Janeiro)

A Legendary Tale

The beginnings of Brazil's coffee-growing industry are quite dramatic. Three hundred years ago, there was not a single coffee tree on this land, yet a cross-border romance unexpectedly secured Brazil's dominance in coffee. In 1727, the handsome army officer Palheta was sent to French Guiana to mediate a territorial dispute between France and the Netherlands. Unexpectedly, the wife of the French Guiana governor fell for Palheta at first sight and gave him a bag of Bourbon coffee seeds (some say seedlings). After returning to Brazil, Palheta resigned his military post and headed to Pará Province near the equator in the northwest to clear land and plant coffee, sparking a coffee cultivation boom in Brazil.

Over the following two centuries, coffee fields gradually migrated southeast to the densely populated São Paulo, Espírito Santo ("Holy Spirit" in English), and southern Paraná. These areas lie between 20 and 30 degrees south latitude—relatively high latitudes where winter frosts often caused cold damage, bringing heavy losses to farmers. After the 1970s and 1980s, Brazilian coffee farmers began turning to the warmer climates of Minas Gerais and Bahia north of São Paulo, located between 10 and 20 degrees south latitude, where winter temperatures are higher and frost is less likely. Today, Minas Gerais (Minas for short) is regarded as the new hope for Brazilian specialty coffee.

Overview of Cultivated Varieties

Brazil cultivates a diverse range of coffee varieties, currently led by Red Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Mundo Novo, and Catuai. In addition, varieties such as Caturra, Acaiá, Obatã, Aramosa, and Pointed Bourbon are also grown and researched. The Campinas Agronomic Institute in São Paulo is a well-known base for coffee variety improvement in Brazil, and Catimor—the most widely planted variety worldwide—is the fruit of collaboration between Portuguese and Brazilian scientists.

Mundo Novo

Mundo Novo is a cross between Bourbon and Typica, first appearing in the 1940s and still favored by Latin American coffee-producing countries today. Its disease resistance and yield surpass those of Bourbon and Typica, but the trade-off is somewhat lacking flavor complexity.

Catuai

Brazil developed Catuai in the 1950s; it is a cross between Caturra and Mundo Novo, with strong disease resistance and high yield. Like Caturra, Catuai's ripe cherries naturally come in red and yellow types (I personally prefer the former). Catuai is known for its full-bodied acidity and is a common cultivar in Central American countries.

Caturra

In the 1930s, a genetic mutation of Bourbon was discovered near the town of Caturra in Brazil, and it was named Caturra after the place. Caturra has a very high yield, and its compact plant makes harvesting easy—but if planted at low altitude, this advantage becomes a fatal weakness: the cherries grow so light that their own weight can crush the plant. When grown at high altitude (above 1,200 meters), Caturra's quality and yield are better guaranteed. Caturra is a common variety in the Central American coffee belt.

Bourbon

When it comes to the Bourbon variety, many people think of its color classifications, such as Red Bourbon, Yellow Bourbon, Pink Bourbon, and so on. Bourbon is a secondary species resulting from a mutation of Typica, and together with Typica it is among the oldest extant coffee varieties. The cherries ripen to bright red, and Bourbon grown at high altitude typically has better aroma and bright acidity. Red Bourbon is perhaps the most common type, because coffee cherries generally progress from unripe green through pale yellow and orange to red at peak ripeness, finally turning dark purple when overripe.

Red Bourbon is named for its red cherries, and the same logic applies to Yellow Bourbon and Pink Bourbon. Yellow Bourbon is generally believed to be a cross between Red Bourbon and another variety; its cherries turn yellow when ripe, and it was first discovered in Brazil, which remains the main country cultivating it. Beyond its distinctive cherry color, Yellow Bourbon also has relatively low yield and poor resistance to wind and rain, so it is not widely planted. Pink Bourbon is even rarer, produced by crossing Red Bourbon with Yellow Bourbon; its scarcity stems from the pink color being controlled by a recessive gene that is easily disrupted, making the pink appearance hard to maintain consistently.

Brazil's coffee-growing terrain falls mainly into two categories: the Brazilian Highlands above 500 meters and the Brazilian Plains below 200 meters. The best-known varieties among the public are Bourbon types (including Yellow Bourbon, Red Bourbon, and flat-bean Santos). Brazilian coffee is characterized by low acidity, nutty flavors, balance, and moderate body. In the specialty coffee world, Brazilian coffee doesn't particularly stand out, but in espresso it is often used as a blend component. Because of its high balance, it is also frequently used by vendors as a stand-in for Blue Mountain-style beans.

Coffee Bean Characteristics

Brazilian coffee beans broadly refer to all coffee beans grown in Brazil. Apart from Santos, most Brazilian beans are of the "cheap and good" type, commonly used in mass-produced blended coffee and often dark-roasted. Front Street Coffee's two blend beans also use Brazilian coffee—the espresso beans recommended by many baristas: Front Street Dark Cocoa Blend and Front Street Specialty Blend. The main raw material for instant coffee also comes from Brazilian coffee beans.

Brazilian coffee beans are large, intensely aromatic, with moderate bitterness and high-quality acidity; the overall mouthfeel is soft, with low acidity and a long, lingering finish. Brazilian coffee has low upfront acidity that pairs with sweet-bitterness for an extremely smooth cup, accompanied by a faint grassy fragrance—light and fragrant with a touch of bitterness, sweet and smooth, with a comforting aftertaste. It's fair to say that without good Brazilian beans, you can't make a good espresso.

Front Street Brazilian Pour-Over Coffee

Front Street's coffee bean lineup includes two Brazilian coffees: a Red Bourbon from the Cerrado region and a Yellow Bourbon from Queen's Farm. Let's brew the Brazilian Cerrado coffee and learn how to make Brazilian coffee. Cerrado, located in Minas, is a high-quality coffee region in Brazil—part of the heart of the Cerrado savanna, with high altitude and fertile soil that yield clean, sweet, full-bodied specialty beans. Front Street has tasted coffees from all of Brazil's major regions, and Cerrado stands out as the most consistent and distinctive. This bean is used in Front Street's espresso blend formula and also serves as a single-origin daily drinker representing the flavors of Brazil.

Brewing parameters: using a Kono dripper

Water temperature: 88°C

Dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Grind size: medium-fine (70–75% passing a Chinese standard No. 20 sieve)

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses staged extraction, also called three-stage brewing: first bloom with 30 grams of water for 30 seconds, then pour in a slow circular stream until reaching 125 grams for the first stage; when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225 grams and stop; when the water level drops again and is about to expose the bed, remove the dripper. (Timing starts at the beginning of the bloom.) Total extraction time is 2'05"–2'15".

Brazilian Red Bourbon brewing flavor: distinct sweetness on entry, with a faint caramel aroma, rich nutty flavors, and a notable dark chocolate note in the finish—an overall rounded experience.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.