Specialty coffee in Brazil

Specialty coffee in Brazil, the world's largest coffee producer, now reaches its own cups too: specialty consumption grew 15% in 2025. Brazil's coffee habit is the cafezinho, coffee boiled with sugar and strained through cloth, a tradition that long masked the dark, low-grade coffee left over after export. The Brazil Specialty Coffee Association was founded in 1991, and Cup of Excellence arrived eight years later. In the cities, cafés such as Coffee Lab, opened in São Paulo's Vila Madalena in 2009, pushed flavour and origin to the front. Boram Um's 2023 World Barista Championship win, with coffee from his family's farm, confirmed Brazil as a competition force.

The cafés listed here are in Rio de Janeiro, which has the larger group, and São Paulo, with Santos, the historic coffee port, also represented. Specialty is estimated at 5–10% of domestic coffee volume, so the scene is still concentrated in the big cities.

Roasters include Café Cultura. Expect Brazilian coffees on the bar, espresso and filter side by side, and cafezinho culture continuing in the background.