São Paulo – Brazil has the fourth best coffee in the world. This is shown in the Rainforest Alliance Cupping 2009 competition, promoted by global organisation Rainforest Alliance, which is headquartered in the United States, a social-environmental certifier. The classification is by the average number of points of the participating farms in each country. In total, 80 certified farms, in 11 countries, competed.
Brazil was only behind Guatemala, in the first position, El Salvador, in second, and Costa Rica, in third. Central America, where these countries are located, is a traditional region for the production of coffee. Brazil had an average of 82.42 points, in a scale from zero to 100. The number is 1.41 points below that of the first place and was based on the evaluation of ten Brazilian coffee farms running for the international prize.
The competition evaluates the quality of the coffees. Ipanema Coffees’ Capoeirinha farm, in Minas Gerais, was the one that had the best classification, among the Brazilian brands. In the global ranking, it was in the seventh place. The farm’s coffee was granted 84.44 points. The second best qualified Brazilian farm was Lambari, with 84.31 points, and the third, Sete Cachoeiras Estate Coffee, with 83.33 points. All are located in the state of Minas Gerais.
Cachoeirinha, from the city of Alfenas, is one of the three farms of Ipanema Coffees, the largest special coffee producer in the world. The company also owns other farms like Conquista, in the city of Machado, and Rio Verde, in Conceição de Rio Verde. There are over 5,500 hectares of coffee plantations. Last year, the company produced 144,000 bags, of which 103,000 were exported.
Exports of green coffee go to over 15 countries, including England, Norway, Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, France, Denmark, Portugal, Switzerland, Canada, the United States, Germany, Italy, Russia and Spain. According to company president Washington Rodrigues, initial contacts have already been made in the Arab world, but the company does not yet export to the region.
Ipanema produces Arabica coffee, mainly of the Mundo Novo variety. The company also supplies its Bourbon coffee to North American coffee chain Starbucks. This year, according to information disclosed by a spokesperson for the company, the same production and export figures should be maintained.
Brazilian companies that competed were selected in November last year by the Institute of Management and Forestry and Agricultural Certification (Imaflora), which is responsible for Rainforest certification in Brazil. In the United States, the testing took place in March and was conducted by an international jury. The classification was announced this month at the Specialty Coffee Association of America fair.
*Translated by Mark Ament