Brazil Mata de Minas Pulped Natural NY2/3 SC 17/18 SSFC 2025

Mata de Minas Region

Minas Gerais alone 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. Minas Gerais is often broken up into sub-regions, with some of the most renowned including Sul de Minas, Cerrado de Minas, Chapada de Minas, and Mata de Minas, where this pulped natural coffee comes from. Mata de Minas is warm and humid, with large variations in elevation. Most farms here are a modest size (by Brazil standards), with 80% smaller than 20 hectares.

Pulped Natural Coffee (Cereja Descascado)

Brazil is a major producer of pulped natural coffee, known locally as, cereja descascado. This process has long been a part of Brazilian coffee production methods, but gained commercial traction after the dissolution of the Brazilian Coffee Institute (IBC) in 1990, which deregulated the market and opened it to fresh investments.

Motivated to stand out, Brazilian farmers began to enhance their quality and post-harvest methods, increasing both their coffee’s value and their market competitiveness. In the pulped natural process, ripe cherries are sorted, partially de-pulped to retain a thin layer of mucilage, and dried to optimal moisture, followed by a resting period to stabilize flavor and quality.

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