Origin Trip Brazil - a journey to the heart of coffee
The history of modern-day Brazil begins around 1500, when the Portuguese arrived on its shores. However, the land they considered newly discovered had already been home to hundreds of Indian tribes with their own culture, language, agriculture and trade for thousands of years. The move of the European world to South America also brought tragic consequences: the indigenous people died of unknown diseases, were forcibly resettled, enslaved and their territory was gradually colonised. Since the 16th century, they have been pushed mainly towards the Amazon. Today, there are 300 tribes and almost a million indigenous people who are still fighting for their territories. Illegal gold mining in protected areas, armed incursions into their lands and clashes with mining groups are unfortunately the reality of contemporary Brazil, while international organisations are trying to preserve their languages and cultural identity.
However, Brazil is a country of contrasts, not only ethnic and historical, but also economic. In the 18th century, coffee arrived here - at first as an exotic plant from the colonies, later as the engine of the entire national economy. In the 19th century, the country became the largest coffee producer in the world and has held this position to this day. This is no coincidence: the vast expanses, specific microclimates, varying altitudes and technological advances in cultivation and processing make Brazil a true coffee powerhouse.
We arrived in Belo Horizonte late in the evening. The city feels like a vibrating organism – it is loud, busy, full of energy and chaos. The metropolis of three million, which combines both vibrant gastronomy and social problems, is the gateway to the most important coffee state of Minas Gerais. On the way from the airport, we pass the bus station and neighborhoods where it is not recommended to go after dark. Crime, drugs and thousands of homeless people create a raw image of a reality here that Brazilians do not like to have photographed and published. Not because they deny it, but because they speak about their country with pride and do not like to see it reduced to its dark sides.
We stayed at the Novotel Savassi, a trendy neighborhood full of bars and restaurants, where in the evening it seemed as if the entire city spilled out onto the street. Brazil doesn’t care if it’s Monday or Friday, the bars and tables are full every day. The sound of live samba mixes with loud laughter, the smell of churrasco meat and the sweet note of caipirinha. A vegetarian would have a hard time choosing here – meat is almost a culinary religion here and Churrascaria is an experience that defines the local gastronomy. The waiter stops in front of you with a large skewer from which he cuts juicy slices of picanha. A taste that you remember.
From Belo Horizonte we set off on a six-hour journey northwest to Carmo do Paranaíba. For the first few hours, the landscape is more of a pasture than a coffee kingdom, the altitude is around 750 meters and the coffee plants here do not yet have their ideal conditions. Only after reaching the 900 meter mark does the horizon suddenly change and we enter the world that brought us here. Cerro Mineiro, one of the most renowned coffee regions in Brazil, opens up before us like a vast green plateau. Endless rows of coffee trees stretch to where the sky meets the earth. The air is drier, the sun is clearer and the soil is rich.
The entrance to Carmo do Paranaíba is lined with a long eucalyptus avenue, creating several kilometers of shade, which locals use for jogging and evening promenades. Just a few minutes away is the Andrade family, our long-time partners and pioneers of Brazilian coffee culture. They have been making a living from coffee for more than a century – their history begins in 1901 on the Capim Branco farm, which was one of the first in the entire state at the time. Today, their name is associated with innovation, a scientific approach and precision that no one in Brazil once considered necessary.
Capim Branco is a symphony of phenology. Irrigation is not a privilege here, but the standard, and a huge 30 million liter rainwater reservoir ensures life not only for the coffee trees, but also for the soil itself. The main varieties grown here are Yellow Catuai, Red Catuai and Arara, varieties that thrive in the local microclimate. The law requires farms to leave at least a fifth of their area as a nature reserve, but Andrade maintains 40%. The landscape breathes, lives and protects itself - the forests provide shade, humidity and biodiversity necessary for the stability of the ecosystem.
Most of the natural processes take place at Capim Branco, but the experiments, fermentation innovations and exotic varieties can be found at the São Silvestre farm. Less than an hour’s drive away, it is a true laboratory of the future. Varieties such as Sidra, Geisha, Pink Bourbon and SL34 grow here under trees, because the harsh Cerrado sun would otherwise dry them out to a state in which they would not be able to express their genetic potential. Fermentation here is not just a technique, but a controlled biological orchestra – 120 hours in a warm chamber and another 120 hours in the cold. The control of oxygen, temperature and time is as precise as in Swiss laboratories.
But what leaves us in awe is their approach to the soil. It’s not just soil, it’s a living organism. Special nutrient mixtures and cover crops sown between the rows help to maintain soil structure, natural moisture, microbial life and nutrient stability. The plants are left to grow, then cut and decomposed on site. A circle of life that protects the roots of the coffee trees in both dry and rainy seasons.
The technological progress here seems almost futuristic. Real-time GPS tracking of tractors and combines allows control over every step of the harvest. It is not a tool of surveillance, but of precision. It is known who passed through which plot when, where they stopped and why, how much they applied and where. If a disease or abnormal development of the bush appears later, you can go back to the data and find the cause. Efficiency is not a coincidence, but a method.
This year's climate also shows how fragile the coffee world is. The past 180 days of drought caused the flowers to fall and production to drop by more than a third, while the current season, with an optimal cycle of 120 dry days, promises a return to full potential. In the Cerrado Mineiro, even a small change in the weather is reflected in the result that then travels to our cups.
We leave with the feeling of having discovered a place where coffee is not just an agricultural product, but a living culture, a scientific discipline and a legacy. The Andrade Bros are not just producers, but guardians of the landscape, sensitively combining the natural ecosystem, generations of farming know-how and the most modern technological practices. As we head back towards Belo Horizonte, the eucalyptus avenues behind us rustle softly, reminding us of the rhythm with which coffee lives its entire life cycle – a rhythm of patience, respect for the soil and the unspoken care without which no harvest would ever be born.
