The Cultural Story of the Origin and Development of Brazilian Coffee beans

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When the Portuguese discovered Brazil in 1500, only Indians lived in the country. Europeans have introduced several new drinks, such as fruit juices, tea from several plants, and even an alcoholic beverage made from cassava. Just a few decades later, Brazil imported thousands of black slaves from Africa; these slaves were used as labor for sugar cane farms. The slaves were the first to taste the drink left over from sugar; the drink was later called cachaca.

It was not until 1727 that the first coffee tree was planted in Brazil. Rumor has it that the military Francisco de Mello Parherta used his charisma to persuade a woman in French Guiana to give him samples of coffee seeds, which were then smuggled to Brazil.

Brazilian coffee beans

Brazilian coffee beans

These seeds will change the history of the country. Brazil's economy is based on the use of slave labor to produce sugar in the northeastern states. Slavery continued, but coffee production moved to the southern states, where coffee seeds adapted better.

Good natural conditions and cheap labor made Brazil the world's largest exporter of coffee; in the last decades of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, Brazil almost monopolized the international coffee market. Brazil's economy is completely dependent on coffee (and coffee farmers).

Rio Grande Island Brazil

Rio Grande Island Brazil

Around the middle of the 19th century, for humanitarian and economic reasons, Brazilian coffee farmers realized that slavery would not last long. Farmers are asking the government to stimulate emigration of those who can help coffee plantations.

For decades, many immigrants have come to Brazil with the specific aim of working on coffee farms. The largest number of people are Italians, but there are also a large number of Germans, Spaniards, Poles, Arabs, Japanese and many other countries.

The state of Sao Paulo has a large area of purple land (suitable for growing coffee) and has become Brazil's main producer and major economic and political centre. Later, the profits of coffee (and the labor skills of immigrants) will be used to finance the country's industrialization. This explains why Sao Paulo is still Brazil's largest and richest state.

So, if you look at the rich and diverse culture of Brazil today, one might say that this is largely due to coffee.

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