Coffee in Brazil

rudy

New member
Jul 9, 2013
9
0
Visit site
Hello-

After a few days in Brazil, the worlds largest producer of coffee (according to wiki), here are some notes on our worldwide addiction...

Breakfast in portuguese is called "cafe da manhã" which translates literally as "morning coffee". Anyone who knows anything about translation knows that literal translations mean little compared to an actual translation, but in this case i think coffee is actually the main course. Coffee comes with a side of bread and butter, which you ignore if you are a woman (or possible eat in secrecy, but i have yet to observe a woman eat breakfast).

Coffee is made and kept hot in a hermetic thermos or pitcher. After a fresh pot is brewed everyone will pour a cup, most will go back for seconds, (i had thirds and fourths regularly :decaf: ). When you pour "black" coffee from the pitcher it already has sugar added (a fact that I lament, but as they say, "when in Rome"). Milk is an option but sweetened black coffee is the norm. To get coffee without sugar you would have to specify before it is prepared.

After breakfast, coffee is brewed another two or three times daily. The most interesting thing that has happened to me was while in a store shopping for clothes I was offered coffee. (Voce I accepted, of course, and was served a little plastic cup with black coffee with sugar (as i expected).

The coffee here is darker than most brews in the states, but everyone who says we drink water in the USA has had limited exposure (then again, I have only been here a few days and my experience is limited as well). In airports espresso is more common than drip coffee, but drip coffee in homes isn´t exceptionally strong. I get the sense that fresh beans, in house grinders and the such is pretty rare here, and I find it ironic that the coffee capital of the world is missing out on the potential of their crops. I´m sure there are connoisseurs who appreciate a fresh cup as much as the next I just have yet to find them (or their coffee shops!) Infact when I mentioned bringing back coffee as a gift most people responded along the lines of "coffee? you might as well buy them a pair of socks (or a bag of bic pens... or anything implying coffee in Brazil is nothing special)". Though on that note - one person pointed out a fact I overlooked: most of Brazils "premium" coffee is not in Brazil, it´s exported! (Probably to the US).

Tchau, i´ll get back if there are any other interesting developments!

-Rudy

(edited for grammar...)
 
Last edited:

namballe

New member
Aug 24, 2012
335
0
Lima, Peru
Visit site
Hi Rudy,
I am in Lima, Peru, and it sounds the same as Brazil lol! sugar already in the coffee, no fresh roasted beans, no personal home coffee grinders etc... i have observed people roasting coffee here in the kilos, just to let it almost catch fire! Cafe Tunki in Peru was rated as #2 in the world behind Kenyas ndumberi coffee. Unlike Brazil, Peruvian people are more tea drinkers than coffee drinkers.
 
Last edited:

maxpower

New member
Sep 29, 2012
11
0
Visit site
FWIW I was in Brazil on business for 2 weeks earlier this year. I didn't realize the coffee already had sugar. No wonder I liked it! lol

I will say that everywhere I had coffee in Brazil (restaurants, bars, roadside truck stops, the factory I was working at, etc...) there was good coffee to drink.
 

rudy

New member
Jul 9, 2013
9
0
Visit site
Yea the sugar in the coffee is a real buzzkill (hehe) but my hosts here are already being more than accomodating and i dont have the heart to say anything. I´m here hanging out with friends till Friday around Vitoria, Espiritu Santo. Then back to the states for REAL brazilian coffee haha. Wish some of you were here now i´d call a convention and we would serve them some damn good brew. (Business plan, anyone?)
 

Flori

New member
Apr 19, 2013
123
0
Visit site
thanks for this article. makes me want to visit Brazil and experience their coffee culture.

flori
blogger, coffeeloversofworld.com
 

rudy

New member
Jul 9, 2013
9
0
Visit site
So I finally got my coffee. After asking many people who could not or would not believe that I wanted coffee beans I found some roasted unground brazilian coffee in a restaurant supply store. I bought 1 kilo.

I hear a lot of talk about revolution in this country. It´s long overdue. Time for the coffee revolution.
 

cestrin

New member
Jul 19, 2013
89
0
Tempe, AZ
Visit site
I visited Panama this past December and received the same answer when asking why the citizens drink crap coffee. All of the good stuff is exported as that's what will turn the largest profit! Sad, really, but that is the reality of a world market!
 

Flori

New member
Apr 19, 2013
123
0
Visit site
yeah, that part is the sad thing about coffee. the country cultivating the coffee do not usually get to enjoy their coffee as they usually export it.

flori
blogger, coffeeloversofworld.com
 

PinkRose

Super Moderator
Staff member
Feb 28, 2008
5,228
14
Near Philadelphia, PA
Visit site
If someone in Brazil wants premium coffee that was grown in Brazil, do they have to order it and have it sent to them from Europe? Or, do they keep some in Brazil for those who have the money to pay for it?
 

topher

Super Moderator
Staff member
Aug 14, 2003
3,916
64
Boca Raton
Visit site
When I was in Brazil the farmer I was visiting said that the government was doing a big push for coffee to become the national drink. I had some amazing coffees while visiting. The method that I found the most was a sort of "sock" that they use like a tea bag. I never had sugar in any of my drinks.
 
Top