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There's an Awful Lot of Coffee in Brazil!

By Fenton Wayne

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 02Oct2009
Word count: 412
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Brazilian Coffee production figures rose by more than 12 million (60kg) bags to an amazing 46 million during 2008 - making the country streets ahead of the other two top world coffee producers of Vietnam (19.5 million bags) and Colombia (13 1 million bags).

That's a staggering 7500 tonnes of coffee, harvested, bagged and stored for each and every day of the year! Of course these processes are done at different times throughout the year, but whichever way you look at it, there is an awful lot of coffee in Brazil!

Over 75% of this production was Arabica coffee, with the state of Minas Gerais on its own producing more than 23 million bags - getting on for nearly twice as much as the whole of Colombia. Minas Gerais (which roughly translates to 'General Mines') is situated in the south east of the country and is the third largest state in Brazil. It owes its name to the many mineral mines founded in the 18th century.

In this same century, coffee was first introduced to Brazil by a government official named Francisco de Mello Palheta. According to the intriguing story, back in 1727 he was invited to mediate a heated border dispute between French and Dutch Guiana, whose governments were actively growing coffee in Guiana. Both closely guarded their financial interests by strictly forbidding the exportation of coffee seeds and plants.

Palheta quickly accepted the invitation with hopes of somehow obtaining some seeds for planting coffee back in Brazil, and rather conveniently became romantically involved with the French Governors wife. Upon his departure, after successfully mediating a solution to the border issue, and doubtless pleasing the Governors wife, she presented him with a bouquet of flowers in which she had hidden several coffee seedlings.

The seedlings flourished and the Brazilian farmers quickly learned the art of growing coffee, putting the emphasis on quantity rather than quality. This has always been the accepted philosophy when it comes to coffee growing in Brazil.

Today, however, Brazil is becoming a significant player in the specialty coffee industry. Bourbon, Typica, Caturra, and Mundo Novo coffee varieties are grown in the states of Paraná, Espirito Santos, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Bahia.

As the worlds largest producer of coffee, the Brazilians do at least practice what they preach, as they are second only to the United States in being the worlds largest actual consumers of coffee.

Coffee is produced commercially in many countries of the world but Brazil is the largest producer by a country mile!

The Coffee School Section of our website is full of useful information, tips and advice about all aspects of coffee and commercial coffee machines.

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