Brazil is the largest producer of coffee in the world. With such diversity, the range of coffee that it produces is vast – from smallholder farms to vast estates. Soils, the regional climate, and temperatures make for great growing conditions. However, Brazil lacks altitude – a factor considered crucial for creating the very best flavours expected from Arabica coffee. Much of the coffee is grown at or below 1000m; much lower than the typical 1400 – 1800 metres that can be found in many other coffee producing nations. Typical flavouring from Brazil invokes nuts, caramel, and a creamy body, but as producers develop new techniques, we are beginning to enjoy newfound sweetness, citrus, and acidity from these coffees.

While many decaffeination processes use chemicals such as methylene chloride or ethyl acetate to remove caffeine, the Swiss Water method uses water to flush out caffeine molecules from the bean.