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The Coffee Atlas
Brazil Sao Paulo Alta Mogiana
Alta Mogiana, the northern Sao Paulo coffee zone with a 2013 geographical indication, known for sweet, chocolate-led natural lots, with sourced cupping scores.
Flavor profile
avg. of 3 published reviewsScale: 1-10, Coffee Review / SCA-classic-form convention. Averaged from 3 independently published, dated Coffee Review lots from the Mogiana growing region of Sao Paulo State: a 2011 Alta Mogiana peaberry (aroma 8, flavor 9, acidity 7, aftertaste 8, body 8), a 2022 farm lot (9, 9, 8, 8, 9) and a 2023 microlot (9, 9, 9, 8, 8). Raw means were aroma 8.67, flavor 9, acidity 8, aftertaste 8, body 8.33; aroma and body are rounded to the nearest half point. Only the 2011 lot is labeled Alta Mogiana by Coffee Review; the other two are labeled Mogiana growing region, Sao Paulo State. Small-N, three natural-process lots across 12 years and different roasters, not a category-wide sample: individual lots vary by farm, roast level and year.
What it tastes like
Alta Mogiana is the northern, higher part of the Mogiana coffee country, along the border of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais. It was recognized in 2013 as an Indicacao de Procedencia, Brazil’s geographical-indication status, for a zone that Noticias Agricolas reports now covers 23 municipalities: 16 in Sao Paulo, plus 7 in Minas Gerais added in 2023. That label is a statement about where the coffee grew, not a guarantee of how it was made or how good it is.
What sets it apart from the rest of Brazil is the combination of reliable sweetness and a little more lift than the lowland norm. The Barista Hustle buyer’s guide puts farms at 900-1,280 m, and local trade coverage describes a cup with creamy body and caramel and dark-chocolate sweetness. The three Coffee Review lots averaged here agree on chocolate and nut, but they stretch further than the stereotype: the 2022 CafeTaster farm lot adds blood orange and grape, and the 2023 Index Coffee microlot pairs dried black cherry and almond nougat with a bright, winey acidity.
That spread is the practical lesson. The oldest lot, a 2011 peaberry, is the gentle, soft-acid version, while the newer farm and microlot offerings show what careful natural processing on a single Catuai farm can do. If you want the classic round Brazilian base, buy a plainly labeled regional lot; if you want fruit, look for a named farm.
How to brew it
Method fit for this origin · editorial guidance from roaster convention
A sweet, chocolate-and-nut cup with moderate acidity is the profile roasters commonly reach for in Brazilian espresso, alone or in blends.
Full immersion rewards the creamy body natural lots tend to carry, and there is little delicate acidity to lose by skipping a paper filter.
Clean and sweet, though the brighter lots (like the winey 2023 microlot) show more through a filter than the softer, chocolate-led ones.
⚠ Fit tiers are editorial guidance drawn from roaster convention; no industry standard scores brew fit, so we show tiers, never invented numbers. Reflects brew guidance commonly published by specialty roasters for natural-process Brazilian lots, not an SCA-defined standard; consistent with this site's other Brazil entries.
Altitude & region
Growing elevation, meters above sea level · this entry vs comparison bands
Alta Mogiana's range comes from the Barista Hustle snippet and is corroborated at the low end by Brooklyn Roasting and Way to Coffee listings (see Sources & data). Brazil Cerrado and Kenya AA are shown for scale using the same commonly published typical origin altitude figures used elsewhere in this Atlas, not lot-specific measurements.
Caffeine content
Caffeine by dry weight · each gold dot = 0.1%
Caffeine content tracks species, not origin, altitude, or processing: roughly 1.2% for Arabica versus roughly 2.2% for Robusta, close to double (see Sources & data). This entry is 100% Arabica; no credible per-origin caffeine figure exists at a category level, so the comparison above is by species only, not a measurement of this specific lot.
Where to buy it
Transparency: some links on this site are affiliate links; if you buy through them we may earn a commission at no cost to you. Roasters are picked for genuine, current sourcing of this coffee, never for who pays us.
Alta Mogiana natural, sun-dried, from smallholder producers; pecan, almond and milk chocolate.
View lot→Austin, TX roaster; natural-process Alta Mogiana, light and balanced, stone fruit and chocolate. Sold through Bean Box and was showing a back-in-stock notice when we checked.
View lot→Natural-process Brazil from the Mogiana region in 12 oz whole-bean bags (sold via Whole Latte Love); a close match rather than a labeled Alta Mogiana lot.
View lot→Selection varies by seller; check roast date, whole-bean listing, and 100%-Alta-Mogiana labeling before buying.
View lot→Sources & data
- Coffee Review: Brazil Alta Mogiana Peaberry, Cup to Cup Coffee RoastersCupping scores (1 of 3 averaged); February 2011; natural/dry-process peaberry, red and yellow Catuai
- Coffee Review: Brazil Mogiana Aparecid Farm, CafeTasterCupping scores (2 of 3 averaged); May 2022; Mogiana growing region, Sao Paulo State; natural with dry fermentation at the start of drying
- Coffee Review: Brazil Admilson Jose Galerani Microlot, Index CoffeeCupping scores (3 of 3 averaged); October 2023; Mogiana growing region, Sao Paulo State; natural, 7-hectare farm, Yellow Catuai
- Coffee Review: scoring methodology1-10 attribute scale definition
- Barista Hustle: The Coffee Buyer's Guide to BrazilAltitude (900-1,280 m) and harvest window (May-August) as shown in the search snippet; page returned HTTP 402 on direct fetch
- Revista Cultivar: coffee drives the economy of the Alta Mogiana regionINPI recognition of Alta Mogiana as an Indicacao de Procedencia in 2013; 2 to 3 million bags a year; over 5,000 producers; aroma, creamy body and caramel and dark-chocolate sweetness
- Noticias Agricolas: Regiao da Alta Mogiana passa a ter 23 cidades em sua Indicacao GeograficaJune 2023; the INPI-recognized zone covers 23 municipalities: the 16 Sao Paulo municipalities of the original 2013 recognition plus 7 in Minas Gerais added later
- Way to Coffee: Brazil Mogiana AltaAltitude corroboration (900-1,000 m), Catuai and Mundo Novo varieties, small-scale producers in northern Sao Paulo
- Brooklyn Roasting Company: Brazil (Alta Mogiana)Altitude corroboration (2,900-3,300 ft), natural sun-dried process, smallholder producers; also a Buy-section listing
- Bean Box: Casa Brasil Coffees Alta MogianaNatural process, 2013 designation mention, stone fruit and chocolate notes; also a Buy-section listing
- Crozier et al.: Espresso coffees, caffeine and chlorogenic acid intake (Food & Function, 2012)Peer-reviewed (Univ. of Glasgow): states robusta coffee beans contain almost twice as much caffeine as arabica, by species (no percentage figures given in this paper)
- Development of a fast and simple method to identify pure Arabica coffee and blended coffee by Infrared Spectroscopy (J. Food Sci. Technol., 2021, PMC8292507)Peer-reviewed, open-access: "Arabica beans usually presents 1.0 to 1.5% w.w-1 of caffeine and Robusta beans presents 2.0 to 2.5% w.w-1" (quoted verbatim, source's own wording), source for this entry's 1.2% Arabica / 2.2% Robusta figures, both within the stated ranges