Brazil

The Brazilian state of Espírito Santo might be one of the smallest states in the country, but it packs an incredible heft of natural riches like iron, coffee, and fruit – and interestingly – a population made up of mostly people with Italian ancestry. This coffee comes from small farms owned by Italian immigrants who settled in the region in the late 1800s, when abandoned sugarcane plantations were divided and sold into farm plots with an average size of 7ha. As a result, coffee production overtook sugarcane production in the 19th century.

Good things take time, and producers in Espírito Santo do precisely that when it comes to harvesting their coffee. The cherries mature slowly, each in their own time, and handpicking allows farmers to collect only the ripest fruit. The mountainous terrain is steep and uneven, so farming heavily depends on manual labor that’s highly selective when picking and sorting coffee. Every family member on the farm plays a role in bringing coffee to market.

Unlike in the rest of Brazil, the coffee here is processed with the washed or semi-washed method because the climate and high altitude keep the environment mistier and more humid. Farmers adopted new drying systems like greenhouses for better control and higher quality to overcome these challenges. The unusual climate also contributes to a surprising cup profile for coffee from Espírito Santo with the high sweetness and aroma distinctive from specialty coffee grown elsewhere in Brazil.