Since the coffee bean was first introduced from French Guiana in the 18th century, Brazil has quickly become the world’s largest coffee producer. Unlike Colombia, where the size of the farms are limited by rugged terrain, plantations in Brazil can be immense. With no natural boundaries to stop the expansion, some plantations are run on an industrial scale with hundreds or even thousands of workers operating each one. This doesn’t mean, though, that Brazil produces sub-standard coffee; on the contrary, modern equipment, a suitable climate and advanced processing methods tend to mean a consistently high quality product.
Brazil produces both robusta and arabica coffee beans in its different regions, many of which are large enough to have differing climates. ‘Brazilian’ has become an industry term for a mild blend, although Brazil has now started to produced specialist coffees as well. Depending on the area, beans are wet or dry processed and this is one of the factors that has an effect on taste, helping to distinguish the beans of different regions.
In the mid 20th century, the Brazilian Institute do Café set quotas for exporting coffee. Unfortunately, this had the unforeseen effect of reducing quality, as suddenly growers were expected to produce a certain quantity. Some sources also believe that the institute was founded primarily for political reasons, and promoted cartels rather than the coffee industry itself. The organisation is long defunct, and in the 1990s the new government encouraged significant reforms in how the beans were grown, processed and exported, leading to a sharp increase in quality which has continued to this day.
Here at the Wholesale Coffee Company, we stock a range of coffee beans from all over the world, all at great value wholesale prices. For more information and to browse our range, please visit our website www.wholesalecoffeecompany.co.uk.