Brazil Sul de Minas

Sul de Minas, the rolling hill country across the south and southwest of Minas Gerais state, grows more coffee than any other region in Brazil: roughly 30% of the country’s entire crop, spread across more than 400,000 hectares and 146 municipalities. That scale alone would make it worth knowing, but the region’s real distinguishing feature is elevation range, not volume. Orange & Brown Imports’ regional profile puts Sul de Minas farms anywhere from 750 to 1,350 meters, low enough to overlap Cerrado’s flatter plateau to the north and high enough to approach Kenya AA territory, and that spread is why the region cannot be summarized by one flavor: lower plots ripen fast into round, milk-chocolate sweetness, while the higher plots slow down enough to build brighter acidity and real fruit character.

Natural (dry) processing is the regional default, a habit built around a long, reliably dry April-to-September harvest window that lets cherries dry on patios without needing mechanical intervention, though a growing number of producers now run honey and washed micro-lots alongside it. The dominant varieties, Catuai, Mundo Novo, and Icatu, are themselves Brazilian-bred descendants of older Bourbon and Typica stock, planted here since Arabica first took hold in the region in the 1850s.

The two Coffee Review lots averaged for this entry, both reviewed in the same May 2018 Brazil tasting report, show what the upper end of that altitude range can do: Old Soul Co.’s Fazenda Sao Bento tied for the report’s top score with black currant, orange zest, cocoa, and lavender over a silky body, while Back Home Coffee’s Ipanema Premier Cru Gold B69 leaned caramel and candied citrus with a cedar-toned finish. Both are natural-process, competition-grade micro-lots rather than the everyday commodity-grade cup most of the region’s 30% share actually ships as, but they make the same point Orange & Brown’s altitude data does: this is a region defined by range, not a single signature.