Brazil has been the world's largest coffee producer for 150 years, producing about a third of the world's coffee. Coffee production in Brazil is centered in the southeastern states of Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Paraná, with Minas Gerais producing about half the country's coffee. There are several key steps to producing coffee: planting, harvesting, processing the beans which includes separating, drying, hulling, sorting, and packaging into 60kg bags for export. The beans are then exported, roasted, ground, and brewed to produce the final coffee beverage. Brazil exports much of its high quality coffee around the world.

1. THE COFFEE INDUSTRY
LEARN ABOUT THE BIG PICTURE, AND HOW THE
COFFEE PROCESSING INDUSTRY WORKS
BRAZIL - 2015
ALFA Indústria e Comércio de Café Ltda.
Thiago Faria Alencar
www.cafesaojose.com.br

2. REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS PRESENTATION:
A CUP OF COFFEE (OR TWO)
READY?
Caffeine
Molecule

3. DID YOU
KNOW?
BRAZIL HAS BEEN THE WORLD’S
LARGEST COFFEE PRODUCER FOR
THE LAST 150 YEARS.

4. BRAZIL CURRENTLY PRODUCES ABOUT
A THIRD OF ALL COFFEE.
THE COUNTRY IS UNRIVALLED IN
TOTAL PRODUCTION OF GREEN
COFFEE, ARABICA COFFEE AND
INSTANT COFFEE.

5. IN 2011, TOTAL PRODUCTION WAS 2.7
MILLION TONNES, MORE THAN TWICE
THE AMOUNT OF VIETNAM, THE
SECOND LARGEST PRODUCER, WITH
PLANTATIONS COVERING ABOUT
27,000 SQUARED KM OF THE
COUNTRY.

6. ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION
• Mainly located in the southeastern states of Minas
Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná
Minas Gerais
São Paulo
Paraná

7. ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION
Minas Gerais alone
accounts for about
half of the country’s
production.

8. ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION
The environment and
climate of this region
provides ideal
growing conditions

9. COFFEE SPECIES
Several species in the coffee genus, Coffea, can be grown
for their beans, but two species, arabica and robusta,
account for virtually all production.

10. COFFEE SPECIES
Arabica dominates both Brazil and the world as a whole
with about 70% of the production; robusta accounts for
the remaining 30%.

11. COFFEE SPECIES
In Brazil, arabica is produced almost exclusively.
Arabica
RobustaRobusta

12. HARVEST TIME
Most plantations are harvested in the dry seasons of
end of May through beginning of September.

13. COFFEE MAKING
LET’S SEE THE MAIN STEPS INVOLVED
IN MAKING THE COFFEE BEVERAGE

14. COFFEE MAKING
1. Planting
2. Harvesting
3. Separating the Cherries
4. Drying the beans
5. Milling the beans
6. Exporting the beans
7. Roasting
8. Grinding (or grounding)
9. Brewing
"At every stage of its
production, coffee is
repeatedly tested for
quality and taste."
Main Steps:

15. COFFEE MAKING - STEPS 1-2 / 9
The art of producing the perfect coffee…
Experience of many
generations comes into
play to get the best
beans possible.
Then it’s time for
harvest: And this is just
the beginning.
Picture of our own plantage
in Minas Gerais

16. COFFEE PROCESSING - STEP 3/9
After collected, the coffee needs to be separated: the
mature beans from immature ones, whereas the mature
will produce the best quality coffee.

17. COFFEE PROCESSING - STEP 4/9
After collected, one of the methods to process it is called
“Dry process”.

18. The drying operation is the most important stage of the
process, since it affects the final quality of the green
coffee.
A coffee that has been over dried will become brittle and
produce too many broken beans during hulling (broken
beans are considered defective beans).
Coffee that has not been dried sufficiently will be too
moist and prone to rapid deterioration caused by the
attack of fungi and bacteria.
COFFEE PROCESSING - STEP 4/9

19. A more modern and higher quality alternative to the dry
process is the “Wet process”:
The process is more complex than this, but in short, beans
are separated using water and afterwords has its pulp
removed, thus leaving just the green bean in its
parchment, ready to be dried.
COFFEE PROCESSING - STEP 4/9

20. COFFEE PROCESSING - STEP 5/9
Next, its outer layer is then removed (also known as
hulling)

21. COFFEE PROCESSING - STEP 5/9
Structure of coffee berry and beans:
1: center cut
2: bean (endosperm)
3: silver skin (testa, epidermis),
4: parchment (hull, endocarp)
5: pectin layer
6: pulp (mesocarp)
7: outer skin (pericarp, exocarp)

22. COFFEE PROCESSING - STEP 6/9
The beans are then again sorted and graded (classified)
according to it’s quality and size.

23. COFFEE PROCESSING - STEP 6/9
And.. how to determine the quality of a coffee bean?

24. COFFEE GRADING - STEP 6/9
According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America
(SCAA), coffee which scores 80 points or above on a 100-
point scale is graded "specialty."
0 points 100 points

25. COFFEE GRADING - STEP 6/9
Specialty coffees are grown in special and ideal climates,
and are distinctive because of their full cup taste and little
to no defects.

26. COFFEE GRADING
The unique flavours
and tastes are a result
of the special
characteristics and
composition of the
soils in which they are
produced.

27. COFFEE READY FOR EXPORT -
STEP 6/9
After sorted and graded, they are finally packaged in
60 Kg bags and sold by the farmer to a coffee dealer.

28. COFFEE READY FOR EXPORT -
STEP 6/9
Although Brazil itself is a big consumer of its own coffee,
most of the high quality coffee is exported to the whole
world at this stage.
For some the end of the work, for others, just the
beginning.

29. COFFEE READY FOR EXPORT -
STEP 6/9
Note about Tariff:
Coffee at this stage can be exported duty-free into the
three largest markets: the United States, the European
Union and Japan.
But processed coffee (discussed in the next steps) such as
roasted beans, instant coffee and decaffeinated coffee is
taxed 7.5% into the EU and 10% into Japan. Exports to
the United States are tariff-free.

30. COFFEE PROCESSING - STEP 7/9
The beans are then roasted, generating different flavours
depending on the degree.

31. COFFEE PROCESSING - STEP 8/9
Sequentially, the beans are now grounded - also known as
milling or granulation. The fineness of the grind strongly
affects brewing.

32. COFFEE PROCESSING - STEP 9/9
The coffee can now be brewed and served in the different
flavours of hot or cold drinks.

33. COFFEE PROCESSING

34. THE END
Thank you for following through - we hope it was
interesting for you and for any questions we are at your
disposal in the following e-mail: thiago@ti.eng.br
Oh, maybe its time for another coffee now.