From Bean to Cup: A Coffee Journey Part I| Recipes Articles

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There is no love sincerer than the love of food.

- George Bernard Shaw

From Bean to Cup: A Coffee Journey Part I

I started to write this article at least 10 times; perhaps putting it on paper would suffice, but in all honesty it's almost difficult to capture the feeling, the discovery, of the Fazenda Nossa Senhora Aparecida in Alta Mogiana, Pedregulho, SP, Brasil. For coffee lovers, it's a place to learn the complex and at times almost beautiful ways a coffee bean is grown from a small seed to the mug on your desk. Time and again I find that I'm pinching myself, learning the washing process, tasting the coffee "cherries" straight from the tree and watching the sun rise over the fields. If I had to nail down how I felt, it would be "amazed". My adventure started in the metropolis of Sao Paulo, where I discovered the end result of some of Brazil's delicately crafted coffee beans.

After a 10 hour plane ride with those of my tour group, the streets of Sao Paulo never looked so good. A tour of the city, headed by Dallis Bros. Coffee coffee guru John Moore, revealed an intense love for coffee: espressos, coffee beans and cappuccinos, oh my! The differences to American brewing were prevalent; cappuccinos have a little dash of cocoa on top, immersed within the pour pattern (my preference was a heart...which I proceeded to ask for the entire trip). Unlike your usual rushed Starbucks fare, baristas in Sao Paulo take great pride in brewing the perfect cup. I was blown away by the degree of concentration, as well as the flavors. Such dedication isn't always found at the Mud Truck or the deli down the street.

Our group was lucky enough upon landing in Sao Paulo to go on a coffee crawl through the city...many taxis were involved as the city is just, well, enormous. It made a New Yorker like myself feel very, very small.

We proceeded to the following places:

Santo Grao Cafe
Cafe Suplicy
Casa Santa Luzia
Isabela Raposeiras Coffee Lab
Octavio Café

(Author's Note: All of these page links are in Portuguese, but are discussed below. See sites for photos!)

When we started off at Santo Grao, it was exciting to watch as members of our party started slurping, yes slurping, the coffee quickly to pull the flavors of the bean. Unlike wine, coffee does not possess any alcoholic content, which means the flavor vapors are not rising towards the pallet without a little help. When one slurps, the flavors are brought straight up. Admittedly, it is difficult if you don't have a very developed pallet to really grasp the individual flavors right off. There's a process called cupping used by professionals to determine unique flavors for each bean, etc...but more on that in a different article.

After a quick walk to Café Suplicy and a sip of espresso shared amongst many, we headed to Casa Santa Luzia across the street. A grocery store to end all grocery stores, we took time looking for American treats with Portuguese names (Hello, Frosted Flakes), then trooped upstairs en masse to find a delightful cafe with traditional Brazilian delicacies (dulce de leche cones, for example). We didn't sample, but headed into taxi after taxi to eventually arrive at Octavio é.

Dallis Bros. Coffee and Octavio are partnered together to bring the experienced coffee drinker some killer brew. From above, Octavio resembles a coffee bean (we were happily able to view it from our hotel a few blocks over) and inside Sao Paulo natives sip and dine on local delicacies, chatting delightfully over large round tables and comfortable chairs clustered under a high vaulted ceiling. The wood floors many at first seem rustic, but the homey feeling only lends to the broad, beautiful flavors of the various specialty drinks. I found it hard to tear my eyes away from the ambiance, but the coffee was calling my name. Edgard Bressani, CEO of O'Coffee, an affiliate of Octavio and Dallis, discussed the creation of Ocatvio and the complexities of the growing seasons/climates and types of coffees grown and roasted in various regions of Brazil. Again, there will be more on this later.

Overall, an entire day of coffee chasing, scented scene stealers in the shape of small espresso cups and exotic concoctions using the coffee bean had me exhausted, dragging myself up to my hotel room and dreaming of beautiful brews to come.

Stay tuned for more on Dallis Bros. Coffee, O'Coffee, Octavio and more in the next installment of From Bean to Cup!