Brazil produces about a third of the world's coffee and has been the largest producer since the 1840s. By the 1920s it supplied about 80% of the international market.
The first boom came in the Paraíba valley, and it ran on enslaved labour. Around 1838, roughly 70% of Brazil's exported coffee came from the land around Vassouras. In 1840 the town had 14,333 enslaved residents out of 20,589. In November 1838 Manuel Congo led the largest slave revolt in the valley, at Paty do Alferes. He was hanged in Vassouras in 1839.
Historian Stanley Stein described how abolition, erosion and bankruptcy left the valley with eroded hillsides and abandoned towns. Today Minas Gerais grows about half of Brazil's coffee.
At home, coffee means the cafezinho, the 'little coffee'. It is a symbol of hospitality, and guests are expected to accept a cup.
Cafezinho
How it's made. Water and rapadura sugar are brought to a boil in a pan, finely ground coffee is stirred in, and the brew is strained through a small cloth filter (coador) on a wooden handle. The cloth is rinsed and hung to dry, never washed with soap.1,2
How it's served. Small, strong, black and fairly sweet, in an espresso-sized cup or small glass. It is drunk all day by people of all ages and offered to visitors at home, after dinner, and even at the hairdresser or dentist.
What time is taking away
The great coffee burning (1931–1944)
After the 1929 crash, Getúlio Vargas's government destroyed surplus coffee to raise world prices. Brazil burned about 78.2 million bags of exportable coffee, mostly at the port of Santos. Some beans were dumped at sea, and a 1932 test ran a steam locomotive for two hours on green coffee.6
Café com leite politics
From about 1889 to 1930, coffee-growing São Paulo and dairy-producing Minas Gerais traded the presidency between them. The arrangement was named after coffee with milk and ended with the Revolution of 1930.7
What the record says
- According to legend, Francisco de Melo Palheta smuggled coffee seeds out of French Guiana in a bouquet from the governor's wife, and planted Brazil's first coffee bush in Pará in 1727.3
- In the first half of the 19th century about 1.5 million enslaved people were brought to Brazil to work on coffee plantations. Slavery was abolished in 1888.3
- Around 1838, roughly 70% of Brazil's exported coffee came from the land around Vassouras in the Paraíba valley.4
- In 1840 Vassouras had 14,333 enslaved residents out of a total population of 20,589.4
- Stanley Stein's study 'Vassouras' describes how abolition, soil erosion and bankruptcy turned the valley into eroded hillsides and abandoned towns.5
- Brazil's price-support scheme began with the 1906 Taubaté Agreement, under which the government bought surplus harvests.3
- A 'black frost' on 18 July 1975 hit Paraná, Minas Gerais and São Paulo, and coffee prices doubled.3
- Most Brazilian plantations harvest from June to September.3
- Between 1931 and 1944 Brazil burned about 78.2 million bags of exportable coffee to prop up prices.6
The Palheta bouquet story is a legend, and the romantic motive is disputed. The total burned between 1931 and 1944 varies by source (about 70 to 78 million bags). We used the 78.2 million figure from Daily Coffee News and flagged it as an estimate. Paraíba valley figures come from Wikipedia's Manuel Congo article and Stein's book page. The book itself was not opened. A Brazilian government (IBGE) page on cafezinho returned 403 and was not used.
- When It Comes To Coffee In Brazil, The Cafézinho Reigns Supreme · Tasting Table, 2022 in the bibliography
- Brazilian Culture: Etiquette · Cultural Atlas in the bibliography
- Coffee production in Brazil · Wikipedia in the bibliography
- Manuel Congo · Wikipedia in the bibliography
- Vassouras: A Brazilian Coffee County, 1850-1900 · Princeton University Press, 1986 in the bibliography
- 90 Years Ago, Seeking Salvation, Brazil Burned Billions of Pounds of Coffee · Daily Coffee News, 2021 in the bibliography
- Milk coffee politics · Wikipedia in the bibliography
