Nature Nurtured
Coffees of Brazil’s Cerrado Region
By Julie Beals • Photographs courtesy of Thompson Owen/Sweet Maria's Coffee

New life emerges from a small crack in a coffee-drying patio

Far from any ocean, nestled in Brazil’s interior state of Minas Gerais, is where 75 percent of Brazil’s famous Arabica coffees are born. “God created this spot for growing coffee,” says Bruno Souza, president of Beccor coffee importers. The climate is different from most other origins, as with its lack of proximity to large bodies of water, and yet the latitude and average 3,000-foot elevation are ideal for coffee cultivation.

Cerrado is fairly unique, flat terrain. Circular, overhead (pivot) irrigation like this is common, but drip/emitter irrigation is being introduced, the problem being that the cost of hosing is very high. Also, coffee has deep and wide root patterns, so hose irrigation must account for this.

But this, the heart of what is now Brazil’s coffee belt, hasn’t always been. As the story goes, someone planted coffee in Cerrado in the early 1970s, just to see what would come of it. People thought the experiment was crazy: Picture the great grasslands of Africa, and you’ll know the climate conditions the coffee stands were up against. Summers in Cerrado are rainy, and winters are very dry and warm, with an average annual temperature of 73 degrees. And the soil? Well, it was good for growing grass.

As we know, the coffee survived, and with the help of soil amendment and limited irrigation, some of the world’s most sought-after coffees are produced here, particularly in micro-regions at 3,900 feet to 4,300 feet.

It’s true that the Cerrado region has been engineered to produce fine coffees. Soil in Cerrado is well structured but lacks organic material such as nitrogen and calcium. It is iron-rich, but out of balance. Agronomists analyze and alter soil conditions to fit the dietary needs of coffee plants, creating custom formulations for each farm, sometimes even for separate plots on one farm.

Coffee skin (casca), parchment (pergamino) and muscilage are used with other organic materials to create a rich mulch that is returned to the plants.

And then there’s that ugly word “irrigation” again, a requirement in the drier months. But distrust of human ingenuity (as perceived as defiance of nature) isn’t entirely deserved in this case. Only 20 percent of Cerrado’s crops are under irrigation—mainly overhead—as “crop insurance,” for when the rains don’t come.

The stark contrast between rainy and dry seasons actually benefits the cup characteristics of Brazils. Cerrado enjoys very strong flowering as the wet season yields to very dry and hot winter conditions. This results in the bold cup expected from fine Brazils, with medium to strong body, mild acidity and strong chocolate notes.

New Wave Agro: Well, agri. This is a massive automated harvester. In this terrain, mechanical picking does a better job of ripe cherry selection than the strip-pick technique of humans. And because Cerrado features one simultaneous, strong flowering, the machine suits both the terrain and crop cycle of the region. It isn’t appropriate in many other coffee-growing areas, even in Brazil.

There’s science to the coffee of Cerrado, “but you won’t find indiscriminate use of chemicals and pesticides or aerial spraying,” says Thompson Owen, co-owner of Sweet Maria’s Coffee. He adds that pure organic coffees are probably impossible here because of the soil conditions. But soil amendment is practiced discreetly, and extensive composting techniques and non-competing ground cover between coffee plants are also used.

Even mechanized harvesting may have a bad rap. Owen has witnessed the harvest in Brazil and other origins a handful of times. In his experience, it’s amazing how well mechanical harvesters can work with respect to the health of the trees and the cherries.

“They work better than hand harvesting in some regions—though not everywhere,” he says. “The machines just knock off ripe cherry—a beautiful harvest—while hand picking can result in stripping.”

Children of coffee farmers have a “fun-and-games” day at school before a holiday weekend.

Together, the gifts of nature and human ingenuity in Cerrado have reaped fantastic results. At last year’s World Barista Championship, the first- and third-place finishers (Troels Overdal Poulsen of Denmark and Sammy Piccolo of Canada, respectively) used coffee from Cerrado in their blends, and second-place winner Hiroyuki Kadowaki of Japan used 100 percent Cerrado.

According to such purists (as highlighted in Richard Reynolds’ audit of the debate in Fresh Cup’s 2005 Coffee Almanac), robusta can be eliminated, along with the possible bitterness associated with it. (Illy’s espresso blend is purportedly 70 percent Brazil, most of it from Cerrado.)

Owen agrees. “I just cupped some single-origin espressos, and the crema from the Brazils’ pulp natural or semi-washed is unbelievable,” he says. “And not just the amount of crema, but the viscosity and tightness of the bubbles—they last a long time—and mouthfeel. It’s fantastic.” He notes that naturals in Cerrado are often ripened and dried right on the tree because the weather changes are so dramatic (again, producing powerful flowering, when seasons change from wet to very dry and warm). “It won’t win Cup of Excellence, but will have tons of body, chocolate and fruit. Perfectly exotic for espresso flavor.”

Fighting counterfeits

Who can resist a face like this?.

Though Brazil is the world’s largest producer of coffee (hovering around 50 percent of world market share), the pictures of giant farms on high plateaus—with rows of coffee trees that trucks can drive between—are misleading. Seventy percent of coffee farmers in Brazil are smallholders, as is the case for most of Cerrado’s 3,000 farms over 335,000 acres. “They are the same sort of farmers you’d picture in Central America,” says Ensei Neto, a consultant at Specialty Coffees Bureau.

TREE TRIM: These 30-year-old Catuai trees were cut to a stump one year before. The cut, which is standard practice in coffee cultivation, ranges from every seven years to as may as 10, but a coffee tree simply won’t produce when most of its growth is woody. Coffee cherry comes from blooms on the herbacious part of the branch, the new growth. There are less dramatic trimmings done each year, including a “skeleton” cut that trims the tree to its bones but does not reduce the height like the seven-year cut.

As with coffees from other touted regions—Jamaica Blue Mountain or Kona, for example—Cerrado’s producers know that coffees from similar regions could be passed off as Cerrado. To combat such counterfeiting, the region’s growers are pinning their hopes on a certification system to protect the value and integrity of their coffees. As a result of this effort, Cerrado Mineiro is in effect the first geographical denomination of coffee in the world under World Intellectual Property Organization rules.

With so many smallholders in the region, the Minas Gerais government recently launched Brazil’s first official certification for coffee production. The program has three major components: norms of process, including agronomic, social and environmental requirements; coffee quality based on the SCAA’s specialty coffee cupping standards (the most important price-compounding factor); and a model of inclusion that offers access to any size of producer in the region.

But all of these standards and analysis will be for naught if circumvented by dishonest importers or exporters. For that reason, each bag of Cerrado coffee is fitted with an impossible-to-tear, Tyvek-like tag. The tag carries an official seal of the region and a barcode that ensures traceability back to the farm and lot level.

Neto, who oversees the certification program, says, “This kind of government effort is crucial to allow the producers to get fair prices for their coffees and assure their future.” If it works, the program will guarantee that any bag of coffee emblazoned with the word “Cerrado” is in fact from the region, and therefore, that the specific quality, environmental and social commitments of the region are represented and can be counted upon by buyers.

TONKA TRUCKS: Coffee in parchment is hauled from farms to the mill in these handsomely customized rigs. The lines running to the hubs are air lines, controlled from the cab. When the trucks are empty, the air pressure is optimized, as when fully loaded. The weight difference with these kinds of coffee loads is so great, and fuel is so expensive in Brazil, that it makes a lot of sense.

Brazil’s coffee industry exemplifies maximization of quality with the natural elements and science at its disposal. Final case in point: Brazil’s January 10 Cup of Excellence Internet auction is the new record to beat, having brought a record price of $49.75 per pound. The coffee came from Carmo de Minas (gruposertao.com.br) in South Minas, a sister region to Cerrado.

Records are made to be broken, and the longer they stand, the more likely they become the stuff of legend. From great grasslands to an equally great (and formerly implausible) cuppa, a new generation of Brazilian specialty coffees has been conceived. And the world can’t help but take notice.

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