Growing coffee in Brazil
How much coffee does Brazil grow?
More than any other country. USDA forecasts a record 71.9 million 60 kg bags for 2026/27, and Brazil's own crop agency, Conab, estimates 67.6 million for 2026. About 70% is arabica, mostly from Minas Gerais, and the rest robusta, called conilon, mostly from Espírito Santo. Brazil picks one main harvest a year, roughly from April to September.
At a glance
2026- Production
- 71.9m bags
- 2026/27 forecast, 60 kg bags
- World rank
- No. 1
- 37.9% of world output
- Species
- Arabica (about 70%) and robusta, called conilon
- Harvest
- One main harvest, about April–September; peak May–August
- Area under coffee
- 2.35m ha, 1.95m ha of it in production (2026)
- Growers
- About 264,000 farms grew coffee (2017 census)
- Exports
- 40.0m bags in 2025, to 121 countries; record US$15.6bn
- Price paid to farmers
- Arabica BRL 1,811.87 a 60 kg bag; robusta BRL 917.05 (April 2026)
- Processing
- Mostly natural (dry) processed
- Protected name
- 22 geographical indications for coffee by February 2026, the first Cerrado Mineiro (2005)
Production: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Coffee: World Markets and Trade (July 2026). Other figures describe 2026 and come from the sources at the end of this page. Updated once a year.
Growing regions
All origins- BahiaOeste da Bahia above 700 m; Chapada Diamantina at least 850 m, mostly above 1,050 mCoffee from Bahia, Brazil: irrigated conilon on the Atlantic coast, mechanised arabica in the west, and hand-picked highland arabica in the Chapada Diamantina.
- CaparaóCoffee from the Caparaó, Brazil: cold mountain arabica around a national park on the Minas Gerais–Espírito Santo border, sweet and complex.
- Cerrado Mineiro800–1,300 m (minimum 800 m for the denomination)Coffee from the Cerrado Mineiro, Brazil: the country’s first protected coffee origin, flat high plateaus at 800–1,300 m, and a sweet, chocolatey cup.
- Espírito SantoConilon up to about 600 m; mountain arabica 500–1,400 mCoffee from Espírito Santo, Brazil: the country’s conilon (robusta) heartland, plus mountain arabica protected as Montanhas do Espírito Santo.
- Matas de MinasAbove 600 mCoffee from the Matas de Minas, Brazil: hand-picked mountain arabica from 36,000 mostly small family farms in eastern Minas Gerais.
- ParanáAbove 500 mCoffee from Paraná, Brazil: once half of Brazil’s crop, hit by the 1975 black frost, now a small, quality-focused origin in the Norte Pioneiro.
- RondôniaCoffee from Rondônia, Brazil: Amazonian robusta from grower-selected clones, protected as the Matas de Rondônia denomination of origin.
- São PauloAlta Mogiana 900–1,000 m; Pinhal 800–1,100 m; Circuito das Águas up to 1,400 mCoffee from São Paulo state, Brazil: arabica only, from the Alta Mogiana, Pinhal, Garça and the Circuito das Águas. Cups, history and figures.
- Sul de MinasAbout 600 m to over 2,000 m, depending on the areaCoffee from the south of Minas Gerais, Brazil’s biggest coffee zone: Mantiqueira de Minas, Sudoeste de Minas, Campo das Vertentes and Canastra.
Brazil is the world’s coffee giant. It has been the largest producer for about 150 years, Wikipedia says, and in 2026 it is picking a record crop: USDA forecasts 71.9 million 60 kg bags. It grows both species, arabica, mostly in Minas Gerais and São Paulo, and robusta, called conilon, in Espírito Santo, Bahia and Rondônia, and picks it in one big harvest through the dry southern winter. Here’s how much, where, when, what it’s worth, and how coffee got there.
The short version
- The world’s biggest producer, a record 67.6–71.9 million bags in 2026, depending on who counts.
- About 70% arabica, 30% conilon (robusta).
- One harvest a year, about April to September.
- Minas Gerais grows more than half the crop.
- Mostly natural (dry) processed.
- Frost is the great risk: Wikipedia calls Brazil the only major producer vulnerable to it.
How much coffee does Brazil grow?
More than anyone, though the two main counts differ. USDA works in market years (July to June); Brazil’s crop agency, Conab, counts each calendar-year crop:
| Crop | Total | Arabica | Robusta (conilon) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 65.0 million | 44.0 million | 21.0 million | USDA |
| 2025/26 | 63.0 million | 38.0 million | 25.0 million | USDA |
| 2026/27 (forecast) | 71.9 million | 47.5 million | 24.4 million | USDA, June 2026 |
| 2026 (99% harvested) | 67.6 million | 48.2 million | 19.4 million | Conab, September 2026 |
All figures are 60 kg bags of green coffee. Conab’s 2026 figure is the highest in its records, up 19.6% on 2025, and USDA calls 2026/27 a record that ends five years of weak arabica crops. Both credit the biennial cycle (coffee trees alternate heavy and light years, and 2026 is a heavy one), good rain before flowering, and new planting. USDA notes that Conab and Brazil’s statistics office, IBGE, use different methods and have usually been lower than USDA.
Brazil has 2.35 million hectares of coffee, Conab says, 1.95 million of them in production, at an average of 34.6 bags a hectare: 30.8 for arabica and 50.2 for conilon.
Where is coffee grown in Brazil?
Mostly in the south-east. Conab’s 2026 estimates, by state:
| State | Area in production | Crop, 2026 | Species |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minas Gerais | 1,147,529 ha | 35.6 million bags | Almost all arabica |
| Espírito Santo | 396,987 ha | 16.5 million | 12.1 million conilon, 4.4 million arabica |
| São Paulo | 200,586 ha | 6.2 million | Arabica only |
| Bahia | 103,550 ha | 4.5 million | 3.3 million conilon, 1.2 million arabica |
| Rondônia | 43,155 ha | 2.9 million | Conilon |
| Paraná | 25,106 ha | 724,100 | Mostly arabica |
| Rio de Janeiro | 12,462 ha | 423,300 | Arabica |
| Goiás | 6,159 ha | 313,000 | |
| Mato Grosso | 10,300 ha | 268,900 |
Source: Conab, third survey of the 2026 crop.
Within Minas Gerais, Conab splits the crop into four zones: the south and centre-west, see Sul de Minas (15.9 million bags), the Zona da Mata, Rio Doce and centre, home of the Matas de Minas (9.7 million), the Triângulo, Alto Paranaíba and north-west, home of the Cerrado Mineiro (8.9 million), and the north, Jequitinhonha and Mucuri (1.1 million). USDA adds that Espírito Santo holds 70% of Brazil’s conilon area and grows about 20% of the world’s robusta, mostly under irrigation, and that Bahia has overtaken Rondônia as the second conilon state.
When is coffee harvested in Brazil?
Once a year, through the dry southern winter. The dry weather helps the cherries ripen and dry, and keeps the ground firm for harvesting machines, Conab notes. In 2026 the harvest began in March and April, and more than 95% of the coffee area had been picked by the end of August. The timing varies by state:
| State | Peak months, 2026 (share of the state’s crop) |
|---|---|
| Rondônia | April (24%), May (45%), June (17%) |
| Espírito Santo | May (31%), June (29%), July (23%) |
| Bahia | May (21%), June (32%), July (23%), August (17%) |
| Minas Gerais | June (29%), July (35%), August (21%) |
| São Paulo | June (18%), July (34%), August (35%) |
| Paraná | June (26%), July (32%), August (29%) |
Source: Conab, monthly harvest estimate for 2026. Robusta in Rondônia comes in first, because its clonal plants ripen early.
How is Brazilian coffee processed?
Mostly as naturals. Wikipedia says virtually all Brazilian coffee is dry-processed: the whole cherries are spread in the sun for 8–10 days, or up to four weeks in bad weather, then hulled, sorted and bagged. Brazil’s farms are also unusually mechanised: Conab reports machine harvesting spreading in Espírito Santo and southern Bahia as pickers become harder to find.
How much are Brazilian coffee farmers paid?
Prices fell in 2026 as the big crop arrived. The University of São Paulo’s CEPEA index, quoted by USDA:
| Coffee, April 2026 | Price per 60 kg bag | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Arabica | BRL 1,811.87 (USD 360.03) | 5% lower than March |
| Robusta (conilon) | BRL 917.05 (USD 182.26) | 46% lower than April 2025 |
Costs went the other way: in April 2026 a grower needed 4.97 bags of arabica to buy a tonne of fertiliser, against 2.25 a year earlier. The government’s minimum guaranteed price for 2026/27 is BRL 792.53 a bag for arabica and BRL 556.97 for robusta, and coffee has its own fund, FUNCAFE, worth BRL 7.37 billion in 2026/27 and paid for from producers’ own resources, USDA says.
Where does Brazilian coffee go?
To 121 countries. In 2025 Brazil exported 40.04 million bags, 20.8% fewer than in 2024, but earned a record US$15.59 billion, according to the exporters’ council Cecafé. Germany was the top buyer (5.4 million bags), overtaking the United States (5.3 million), whose 50% tariffs on Brazilian coffee, in force from early August to the end of November 2025, cut shipments to the US by 55%. USDA forecasts exports of 49 million bags in 2026/27, up 30%, and Conab reports that August 2026 was the biggest August on record. Brazil is also the world’s biggest exporter of instant coffee, Wikipedia says.
How did coffee come to Brazil?
By smuggling, if you believe the legend. Wikipedia’s account:
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1727 | Francisco de Melo Palheta plants Brazil’s first coffee bush, in Pará. By legend, he got the seeds from French Guiana when the governor’s wife hid them in a bouquet |
| 1770 | Coffee reaches Rio de Janeiro, but is grown for home use until the early 19th century |
| 1830s–1850s | The first boom. By the 1830s coffee is Brazil’s largest export; by the 1840s Brazil grows 40% of the world’s coffee, the most of any country |
| 1800–1850 | About 1.5 million enslaved people are brought to Brazil to work the plantations |
| 1880s–1930s | The second boom, and the café com leite (coffee with milk) politics of coffee-growing São Paulo and dairy-farming Minas Gerais. Italian, Spanish and Japanese immigrants increasingly do the work |
| 1888 | Slavery is abolished |
| 1906 | The Taubaté Agreement: the government buys up surplus coffee to hold up the price |
| 1920s | Brazil supplies about 80% of the world’s coffee |
| 1950 | Coffee peaks at 63.9% of Brazil’s exports |
Source: Wikipedia, Coffee production in Brazil.
Why does frost matter so much?
Because Brazil, Wikipedia says, is the only major producer vulnerable to frost, and its crop is big enough to move the world price. A light frost kills the flowers; a black frost kills the tree, which then takes years to bear fruit again. The worst of the modern era, according to Wikipedia and Brazilian sources:
| Frost | Damage | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 18 July 1975 | Hit Paraná, Minas Gerais and São Paulo; 73.5% of the 1976–77 crop affected and the coffee price doubled | Wikipedia |
| June and July 1994 | Two frosts in two weeks cut the next harvest by 50–80% in some states | Wikipedia |
| 20 July 2021 | Conab’s first estimate: 150,000–200,000 ha of arabica possibly damaged, 8–11% of the arabica area; Minas Gerais’s extension service counted about 156,300 ha and 9,500 growers affected | Conab, via Forbes Brasil; Emater-MG, via Agência Minas |
In June 2026 USDA expected El Niño to bring fewer frosts this winter, but warned that heat during flowering could hurt the 2027/28 crop.
Which Brazilian coffees are protected?
Coffee has more geographical indications (GIs) than any other product in Brazil, the industry confederation CNI said in 2023. The first went to the Cerrado Mineiro in April 2005. The early ones, as listed by researchers at the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo:
| Year | Region |
|---|---|
| 2005 | Cerrado Mineiro, now a denomination of origin |
| 2011 | Serra da Mantiqueira de Minas Gerais, now a denomination of origin |
| 2012 | Norte Pioneiro do Paraná |
| 2013 | Alta Mogiana |
| 2016 | Região do Pinhal |
| 2019 | Oeste da Bahia |
| 2021 | Caparaó, Montanhas do Espírito Santo, and Matas de Rondônia, for robusta |
By February 2026, when the Chapada de Minas was added, Brazil had 22 coffee GIs, according to Sebrae, and in May 2026 the Circuito das Águas Paulista, nine towns in São Paulo state, got its own.
How do Brazilians drink their coffee?
Small, strong and sweet, as cafezinho, traditionally made in a coador de pano, a cloth filter. Brazilians drank 6.02 kg of green coffee each between November 2024 and October 2025, about 3.8 cups a day, according to the roasters’ association ABIC, quoted by USDA. Whether that makes Brazil the world’s biggest coffee market depends on the source:
| Claim | Source |
|---|---|
| The United States is the largest coffee-consuming market in the world | USDA, June 2026 |
| Brazil overtook the United States as the largest consumer in the mid-2010s | Wikipedia |
USDA forecasts Brazil will drink 22.4 million bags in 2026/27.
Brazilian coffee and other origins
- Coffee in Colombia: the world’s great washed arabica, picked twice a year.
- Coador de pano: how to make cafezinho at home.
- The atlas: Brazil’s growing area on the map.