While much of Central and South America are shipping coffee at present, the majority of Latin American coffee producing countries enjoy their peak shipping season during spring, with some (especially Central and Northern South American countries’ seasons) carrying on well into summer. But Brazil is smack-dab at the middle of its shipping season. Brazil’s peak harvesting season occurs earlier than the rest of the continent’s, running from June through September, with peak shipping season beginning around October and continuing through March.
Much of Brazil’s coffee is grown at lower altitudes than in other regions of Latin America, producing a softer, lower-acidity cup. Often Brazilian coffees showcase floral, fruity and nutty flavors, but as the world’s largest coffee-producing region by area and by far the largest coffee producer by volume (approximately 40 percent of the world’s coffee supply, producing nearly three times as much as second-place Vietnam), Brazilian coffee’s terroir is as varied as its coffee growing population, making Brazilian coffee an endless adventure. Here are three roasts to try right now.
- Brazil Peaberry Pearl || Burke Coffee Roasting focuses on custom roasting only single-origin coffees, and chooses a peaberry variety (by genetic defect, only a single bean grown in the coffee cherry instead of the customary two—it is often claim that this yields a more flavorful bean) to showcase Brazil. Aromatic sweetness of the small peaberries meet nutty flavors in the cup. || $10/13.5 oz.; Burke Coffee Roasting, Nampa, Idaho
- Brazil Condado Estate|| Velton Coffee Roasting’s Brazilian single-origin is a pulped natural coffee, one in which the coffee cherry’s skin is removed but the inner fruit is left intact during the drying process and only stripped away afterwards. The result is a fruity cup which incorporates rich chocolate in a medium- to full-bodied coffee. || $16/16 oz.; Velton’s Coffee Roasting Company, Everett, Washington
- Beachcomber Brazilian|| Hand-roasted in small batches on Pender Island, British Columbia, Moonbeans Coffee offers a light-roasted Brazilian coffee that incorporates hazelnut and almond flavors with a buttery-sweet caramel overtones. || $14/16oz.; Moonbeans Coffee Roaster, Pender Island, British Columbia
