The origin of coffee

It´s said that coffee has been known for more than a thousand years in the Kaffa region in Abssinia (Etiopia), Middle East. However, the first coffee occurrence dates at the XV century. Ethiopian goat shepherds noticed that when the animals ate a small fruit (the coffee fruit) they became more lively and resistent. The name “coffea arabica”, a cientific name of one of the most important coffee strains, originated from the Arabics who were the first to cultivate coffee and, instead of eating and chewing it as the etiopian shephereds used to do, they drank it.

Coffee in Brazil

The coffee, whose first seeds were brought from French Guyana by Sargento Francisco de Mello Palleta in 1727, was responsible for the country´s progress after the colonial era, substituting gold and sugar cane. Its cultivation began in 1773 in Rio de Janeiro. However in some regions, such as Paraíba Valley, São Paulo and Minas Gerais it was only introduced in 1825 with the deforestation and the building of roads, originating towns and generating wealth with the exploration of rich virgin soils.

Brazil holds the position of the biggest coffee producer and despite several crises the national production has faced, the producer have been able to provide the market with top quality coffee comparable to the best coffee produced by other countries.