Full Brazilian

Ohio is not known for growing coffee. Coffee trees at our altitude and latitude can not produce fruit, so it has to be shipped in from mountainous places situated in the Tropics. We will, from time to time, profile these places to get a sense of the massive undertaking involved to get coffee from there to here.

Brazil

Distance from Columbus, Ohio: 4469 miles.

Introduced by: Francisco de Mello Palheta in 1727 from Cayenne, French Guiana.

Cultivars: Bourbon, Typica, Caturra, and Mundo Novo

2007 production: 36,070 bags (18,739,292,286 tons)

Trade Organizations: CeCafé, ABIC

Brazil is the world's fifth largest country in both geographical area and population. It is the largest country in South America and the largest producer of coffee in the world. The southeastern coffee-growing section is rugged, with mountain ranges reaching elevations of up to 3,900 ft (high quality arabica is usually cultivated between 4,265 and 4,921 ft). These ranges include the Mantiqueira Mountains, the Espinhaço Mountains, and the Serra do Mar. The highest point in Brazil is the Pico da Neblina at 9,890 ft.

Brazil is the world's tenth largest economy (at market exchange rates). Its currency, the Real, has dropped recently which has allowed the resource-rich country to poise itself as a major exporter. Stiff new competition from Vietnam's fledgling coffee industry has impacted Brazil's historic market dominance, however, Brazil exports both arabica and robusta varieties while Vietnam only exports commodity-grade robustas. In addition to exporting beans, Brazilians have recently started drinking more of their own coffee on a daily basis, consuming 11 lbs of coffee (per capita) a year, up by 3.5% from previous years. Scandinavia, the world leader in coffee drinking, consumes around 25 lbs of coffee (per capita) a year.

Brazil has long been a coffee producing powerhouse. The Instituto do Cafe (IBC) was formed by coffee growers in 1906 in an effort to manipulate international coffee supply and prices. In 1926 the IBC was taken over by the government and used as artillery in a price war against Colombia. Brazilian coffee stored in warehouses around the world would be released or withheld to match fluctuations in market prices, thereby guaranteeing high and reliable prices. Under certain conditions, the IBC would destroy whole crops of coffee in an effort to maintain its position in the market. Changes in international politics and a decline in global coffee production put an end to the IBC in 1989.

Sources: The Coffee Book, Wikipedia, The Financial Express, Sweet Maria's, ABIC.