matas de minas

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest in eastern Minas Gerais is home to one of Brazil’s most traditional growing regions, where small-holder coffee and dairy farms paint the mountainsides and valleys. From the mid-19th to the early 20th century, when Brazilian coffee went from being a minor crop to 80 percent of the world’s supply, it was the Matas de Minas region largely driving that growth. 

The region is vast, covering a large swath of southeast Minas Gerais—275,000 hectares (679,540 acres) of coffee production spread over 63 municipalities—and running from the borders of Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro westward toward the middle of the state and including well-known coffee towns like Manhuaçu, Viçosa, Araponga, Alto Caparáo, and others. 

Great coffees from Matas de Minas present floral and citric aromas, with sweet citric and chocolate flavors and medium body on the palate. 

Although the tradition of coffee production runs deep, the region is also a humid one, which is great for the growth of trees and forests, but not so good during the harvest, as the coffee beans must be dried before storage. Because of this difficulty, until recent times the region was known for the prevalence of defects that arise from improperly dried coffee. However, advances in technology—for example, the implementation of the pulped natural processing method whereby the outer layer of the coffee fruit is removed before drying—and know-how have allowed skilled growers to take advantage of the mountainous terrain to produce some wonderful coffees.