Drippy No More

Drippy No More 
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA)
 
Once viewed as filler for mass-market brands, Brazilian coffee is hot. A look at its sweet and nutty charms

James Freeman, owner of the roaster and Oakland, Calif.-based cafe chain Blue Bottle Coffee Company, just got back from a coffee-buying spree in Brazil. He visited a family-run coffee farm and bought beans he calls “velvety,” “beautiful” and “voluptuous.” He will soon begin selling the coffee for about $20 a pound, the same price as his best Ethiopian beans.

Rapturous praise from roasters like Mr. Freeman represents a dramatic turnaround for Brazilian coffee, which until recently was considered the Idaho potato of the coffee world—a nondescript commodity crop worthy of little more than instant coffeehood. Though tons of coffee has always come from Brazil—it’s the world’s largest exporter, producing about a third of the world’s beans—it has only recently shaken off its reputation as the provider of the dull flavor of many mass-market blends. “It was common knowledge that Brazilian coffee was just garbage,” said Danny O’Neill, founder of the Roasterie, a specialty wholesale coffee roaster in Kansas City, Mo.

A growing number of upscale roasters and coffee shops are spotlighting the sweet, nutty and full-bodied nature of Brazilian beans. They’re seeking out the best beans in the country and carefully roasting them to preserve their subtle nuances. Because many Brazilian coffees grow at low altitudes, they tend to be less dense than high-grown coffees, which means they often fare poorly when dark-roasted in the style that has become popular at places like Starbucks and Peet’s. Instead, they require a light roast and should be served simply.

Brazilian coffees vary widely by region and farm, but they are generally marked by low acidity, which allows their natural sweetness to emerge. For this reason, they’re especially popular in espresso blends.

“When you extract under pressure, it accentuates either sweetness or acidity, and you don’t want a highly acidic espresso. You want sweetness to be accentuated,” said Allen Leibowitz, managing partner of Zingerman’s Coffee Company, which sells three types of Brazilian beans. But not all Brazilian brews need to be served as espresso, said Mr. Leibowitz as he waxed poetic over another variety, Peaberry, which has “caramel flavor and a little hint of peanut,” he said.

“Specialty coffee always looked down on Brazil from the ’70s forward, because it was low grown. Typically really fine coffees grow at over 4,000 feet in altitude, and Brazil’s grow at 3,000 to 4,000 feet,” said George Howell, a roaster with a history in the specialty industry. Mr. Howell was responsible for sparking a change in Brazilian coffee’s reputation when he started the Cup of Excellence contest in 1999. About 40 Brazilian farmers put samples of their beans before a panel of judges who selected the 10 best and put them up for Internet auction. “It was kind of a Judgement at Paris,” said Mr. O’Neill, referencing the 1976 taste-test of California wines in France that helped put the American wine industry on the map.

Two months ago, Illycaffè, a large Italy-based company with international sales, rolled out MonoArabica Brazil, a blend of coffees exclusively from the Cerrado Mineiro region

Mark Romano, a company director, said the blend “has a high body, heavy mouth feel, bittersweet chocolate notes, intense aroma and slight sweetness.” The flavor captures what connoisseurs are excited about in Brazilian coffee.