Coffee giant Brazil

With an annual production of more than 50 million sacks, which is approx. 3,000,000,000 kg of coffee, Brazil is the biggest coffee producer of the world. Enough reason for Peter and Stefan Schreyögg to visit the South American country of origin. On the trip, which was made in winter – i.e. outside the harvesting season – they had the opportunity to extensively study and assess both the growth and the after-blossoming phases. Stefan Schreyögg was particularly impressed with the size, extension and diversity of the country – after all Brazil is the giant of the coffee market with more than 30 % of world coffee production; at the same time coffee is one of the most important agricultural export products of the country.

The coffee is grown in the tropical and subtropical climate zones. On their tour Peter and Stefan Schreyögg visited coffee plantations in the highlands of São Paulo and the Minas Gerais region. They learned from the operators of the local consortiums that the more than four million coffee trees of the country grow on both big and small farms. The coffee trees may grow to a height of up to 18 metres, but on plantations they are cut back to the height of shrubs to facilitate harvesting.

With more than 80 % the focus is on the Arabica variety, the Brazilian Robusta variety Conillon makes up a rather insignificant portion of just 15 %, of which hardly any is exported, but which stays on the local market almost exclusively. Brazil’s best known Arabica quality – Santos – is very popular due to its medium strong round body and slightly sweet taste. It is named after the port of the same name 75 km from São Paulo. This is where the trip ended – with a visit of the city, its big port as well as – last but not least – one of the best-known coffee museums of the world, which is in the building of the old coffee exchange.

Journey to the original homeland of coffee - Alps Coffee on a visit to Ethiopia

The East-African country is the cradle of coffee – and the destination of a journey, which took a small team of eight from Alps Coffee back to the roots of coffee production last November. November is the harvesting season in Ethiopia – so this was the ideal time to travel. Thus, the group first went to the Fairtrade plantation, where the red coffee cherries are harvested in a sophisticated picking process. Conditions in the highlands of Ethiopia are ideal for growing high-quality arabica beans.

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