Brazil Chapada de Minas Natural 14/16 2025

Chapada de Minas Region

Brazil’s state of Minas Gerais produces more coffee as a region than any other country in the world. At around 30 million 60-kg bags per year, the region accounts for nearly half of Brazil’s total production – roughly 33% of the world’s coffee supply.

Minas Gerais is often broken up into sub-regions, with some of the most well-respected coffee appellations including Sul de Minas, Cerrado de Minas, Mata de Minas, and Chapada de Minas, where this natural coffee comes from.

Chapada de Minas is an emerging coffee area in southeastern Brazil with well-defined wet and dry seasons. The tropical climate experiences warm temperatures of 68-75ºF, with cooler nights in higher elevations that contribute to the development of coffee flavor complexity. In addition to coffee, farms in Chapada de Minas also cultivate eucalyptus and mahogany trees to diversify their crops.

How is coffee graded in Brazil?

Brazil was the first country to implement a formal grading system for classifying coffee beans. In 2002, the Brazilian Official Classification (Classificação Oficial Brasileira, or COB) was standardized by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA), and they outlined precise protocols for cupping and grading green coffee.

One of the most commonly used quality indicators today is screen size, with the designation 14/16 referring to beans that have passed through a sifter with holes measuring 14/64 to 16/64 of an inch in diameter. While larger beans are often associated with higher quality, screen size is just one of several indicators used to assess coffee quality.

Natural Process Green Coffee from Brazil

The most common processing method in Chapada de Minas is still natural processing. But the natural approach in Brazil looks a little different than natural processing in other origins. While most origins harvest cherries and dry the fruits on raised beds, the natural process in Brazil means using as little intervention as possible.

Coffee cherries dry while they’re still on the tree, allowing extra time for sugars and flavors to concentrate with minimal fermentation, which results in an intensely rich, sweet cup with fragrant notes of granola, dark chocolate, and roasted peanuts.

About Brazilian Coffee

Brazil’s coffee story kicked off in 1727 with Arabica seeds smuggled from French Guiana, and within a century, it became the world’s leading coffee producer. Coffee fueled Brazil’s economy, dominated by agrarian oligarchs who drove production and exports, especially from São Paulo.

The abolition of slavery in 1888 brought waves of immigrants to coffee-growing regions, propelling Brazil’s coffee output to 80% of global supply by the 1920s. Though other countries have since increased their exports, Brazil still provides over 33% of the world’s coffee and consumes 20 million bags domestically, with a supply chain that generates more than 8 million jobs – proof of just how important coffee is to life in Brazil and how important Brazil is to coffee drinkers around the world. Read more in our Brazilian Coffee Origin Report