Coffee Nomad

Brazil has been the world’s largest producer of coffee for a while now.  They’re main asset is not the most ideal environment in the world, but rather the biggest amount of space in environments that have the capacity to grow coffee.

Brazil’s lack of high (mile or greater) altitudes makes it more difficult to grow as much higher grade coffee.  This is one of the reasons good coffee is difficult to produce in general — high altitudes make the best, most flavorful coffee, and high altitudes tend to have more rugged terrain, which is harder to access.  Most of Brazil’s coffee growing fields lie below the ideal mile high altitude that is ideal for coffee growing.

Why does altitude matter?  High altitudes make for coffee with higher levels of acidity, which affects the flavor of the coffee.  Less acidity = flat, less flavorful coffee.

Out of that huge expanse of coffee growing fields there are, of course, some farmers who are careful about where and how they grow their beans.  But Brazil has earned the reputation of growing average, not exactly outstanding coffee because they couldn’t resist the temptation to grow the mass quantities that their land availability and environment make possible.  This is probably a good thing, so that average people such as myself can afford to drink coffee on a regular basis.