How long does it take for raw coffee to mature?  Coffee tree, growing coffee at home

Harvesting coffee is a very time-consuming process that requires careful and patient approach. Even one spoiled berry can destroy the entire crop. In Central America, Ethiopia, Kenya and India, hand-picked coffee is practiced. It is expedient, because the grains on the same tree ripen at different times. When some berries are ready for picking, others remain immature. It is believed that thanks to this method, you can get the highest quality raw materials and, accordingly, an impeccable drink.

Sometimes they resort to continuous manual collection when they are running out of time before the start of the rainy season. For example, in some countries special combs are used. Previously, burlap is spread under the trees, where the berries are “combed”. Then the fruits are additionally sorted out, sorting out the unripe ones. The mechanized method of collecting coffee has become widespread in Brazil.

How is coffee harvested in Brazil?

At the next stage, the processing and drying of the fruits is carried out, which takes place directly on the plantation in one of two ways:

Dry technology

wet technology

Then the remnants of the pulp are removed under a strong stream of water, and the grains are left to dry for two weeks. They are dried in the sun for only a few hours a day, constantly stirring. The rest of the time, the grains are specially covered, protecting them from the sun and night moisture. Dry coffee beans move easily in the seed coat, which immediately crumbles if the bean is rubbed in the palm of your hand. It is thanks to friction that the seed coat is removed.

Coffee on plantations in Brazil ripens almost simultaneously, so high-performance berry picking is possible. But you still have to sort the fruits, as well as remove knots and leaves accidentally mixed with grains. A special pneumatic tool has found wide application, which shakes the branches, as a result of which the ripe berries themselves fall off the branches.

The grains that have undergone pre-treatment are green. Then they are sorted by size: the larger it is, the more expensive the coffee. The coffee harvest ends with packaging. Bags with grains are stored on wooden floorings in rooms with a special temperature regime and good ventilation. Further, at the enterprises, coffee is sorted, polished and various blends are made.

Only after roasting the beans are finally ready to prepare fragrant fresh coffee. Now it's not a secret for you how coffee beans are harvested. This time-consuming and difficult process allows millions of people around the world to enjoy the taste of their favorite drink every day.

In order for the inhabitants of our planet to enjoy great coffee, its grains must not only be grown, but also harvested. This employs a lot of people in those countries where this crop is one of the main (or, moreover, the most basic). The process of collecting coffee is quite laborious and difficult to mechanize. According to statistics, one experienced picker is able to collect about seventy kilograms of coffee fruits per day.

coffee bean harvest season

It largely depends on the geographical location of the plantation, climatic conditions, and its duration can be up to six months or even more. More specifically, in the country that produces the most coffee in the world, that is, in Brazil, the coffee harvest season lasts from April to August, in the Central American country of Guatemala from August to May, its neighbor Costa Rica from the end June to early December, and on the island of Java - from early May to early December.

Collection of different varieties of coffee: the specifics of the process

Specialists count three botanical varieties of coffee: Arabica, Robusta and Liberica. Each of them has its own specifics, expressed, among other things, also in the methods and features of the collection process.

As for the coffee fruits of Robusta and Liberica, after ripening, they remain on the trees for quite a long time. This is necessary so that they, as they say, “dry out”, and subsequently it was easier not only to collect them, but also to pre-process them.

Such a common and considered the most valuable coffee variety, like Arabica, is harvested in several stages. The fact is that the fruits of this botanical variety on the trees ripen unevenly, and therefore the mature ones are gradually removed, leaving the immature ones to “reach the standard”. In most cases, the interval between collection stages is about two weeks, and in total there are most often three of them: preliminary, main and late.

It is mainly thanks to the phasing that it is possible to achieve that the grains in the end are of exceptionally high quality. At the same time, a lot depends, of course, on the skill level of those people who are engaged in harvesting coffee: experienced pickers remove only mature beans, and not overripe or unripe ones.

The yield of coffee plantations

This indicator depends on a large number of factors: coffee varieties, climatic conditions, the nature of the soil, the height of the plantation above sea level, etc., etc. Nevertheless, there are still some average indicators. As a rule, from 850 to 1600 kilograms of coffee fruits are harvested from one hectare of a coffee plantation, and in some especially fruitful years - up to 2000 kilograms.

About 2.5-3 kg of berries are harvested from one Arabica tree. Of these, in a toga, about 0.4-0.5 kilograms of roasted coffee beans are obtained. Thus, it turns out that one tree produces such an amount of coffee per year that is enough to make about fifty cups of the drink.

Basic ways to harvest coffee

If we talk about technologies for collecting coffee beans, then today there are several of them. They differ quite seriously in the level of mechanization and complexity. The main ones are the following:

• Picking;
• stripping;
• "Comb";
• Mechanized.

Picking is the most labour-intensive method of harvesting coffee beans, but it ensures the highest quality of the finished product. This method consists in the fact that experienced pickers manually pick only ripe berries from the trees. This results in a very high degree of uniformity in batches harvested using picking. However, since this method is quite expensive, every year it is used less and less frequently in the industrial collection of coffee.

Stripping is also a manual method of picking coffee berries, but it differs from picking in the absence of “selectivity”: the picker removes absolutely all the fruits on it from the branch. Technically, this procedure consists in the fact that the picker holds the branch with one hand, and with the other hand, with sliding movements directed from top to bottom, “rips off” both berries and leaves from it. Stripping is most often used when, for some reason, the crop simply did not have time to be harvested on time, and it provides a much lower quality of the harvested grains than picking.

Another manual way of collecting coffee is the "comb", but it differs from stripping and picking in that it involves the use of an additional device. It is a crossbar with rare teeth and in appearance really resembles a comb. The branch is “combed” with it, and fruits (mainly mature ones) are showered on the fabric spread under it. This method of collecting coffee beans is quite simple, technologically advanced, productive, and provides a very good quality of beans.

In recent years, the mechanized method has been increasingly used. It consists in the use of special vibration equipment that "shakes" the berries from the trees. Since at the same time not only ripe, but also green fruits fall off, as well as a lot of leaves, the quality of such a collection is low. But it provides high performance and does not require large labor costs. The mechanized way of collecting coffee is most common in Brazil.

In order for coffee lovers to fully enjoy the aroma of coffee beans, the coffee beans must first be harvested, then processed, and the resulting beans must be roasted.

When harvesting fruits of more expensive varieties, coffee trees are shaken, which is why only ripened fruits fall to the ground. Cheaper coffee varieties Harvested by picking both ripe and unripe fruits.

This is followed by a processing step, as a result of which the grains are separated from the fruit shell. There are two main ways to process harvested coffee beans: dry and wet. The choice of method depends on the availability of water, crop maturation conditions, weather and crop maturation time, as well as the availability of peeling and drying equipment.

In progress dry processing the collected coffee fruits are scattered in an even layer on a concrete surface or on special sites. Drying in the sun takes up to five weeks and depends on several factors: the thickness of the coffee fruit layer, the average daily temperature and the number of sunny days. During drying, the fruits are agitated with a rake or manually. After drying, the coffee fruits are put into bags and kept for a few more weeks so that the fruits additionally lose some of the moisture. After that, they are peeled, separating the fruit shell from the green coffee bean. In some African countries, coffee is peeled by hand, in others there are special peeling machines for this.

Wet processing more complex and is used mainly on large plantations. It allows you to get coffee beans of the best quality. Freshly picked coffee fruits are subjected to pre-cleaning, during which branches, leaves or foreign objects that have fallen along with the coffee bean are separated. Then the coffee fruits are quickly washed, after which they are cleaned of pulp in a special apparatus - a pulper, which separates the shell of the coffee fruit from the grains. After pulping, the fermentation stage begins, which allows you to get rid of the slightest remnants of pulp, fibers, films and shells of the skin. This process should last no more than 36 hours, otherwise the taste of the final product will drop sharply.

After fermentation, the grains are rinsed in cold water, folded over sieves, and then laid out on a stone floor or on racks made of metal mesh to dry. Dried coffee beans under the scorching sun in the open air. In order for the grains to dry evenly, they are periodically turned over. This final stage lasts approximately 2 weeks.

The residual moisture content of the coffee beans should be 11-12%. It is important not to overdry the beans, as excessive drying will adversely affect the quality of the coffee. For example, Arabica dried to 10% loses its characteristic bluish-green color, becomes brittle and acquires an unusual taste. In under-dried seeds, fungi and bacteria begin to develop.

In most coffee-producing countries (with the exception of some areas of Brazil and Ethiopia), wet processing is mainly Arabica. Robusta is dry-processed almost everywhere.

In order for the grains to acquire a more beautiful appearance, they are polished in specially designed drums. Sometimes coffee is placed in the drum along with sawdust, as a result of which the grains are smoothed out, but the smallest particles of sawdust remain on them, which look like a white coating. This plaque is considered a sign of a high grade coffee.

In some countries, there is a special position - a coffee bean quality inspector. These specialists control all incoming batches of coffee beans for their uniformity.

After drying, coffee beans are ready for sale and further processing.

Processed and dried coffee is packed in jute bags. Usually dried raw materials are stored for about a month. But just like expensive wine, good coffee requires aging. When raw unroasted coffee is stored for a year or more, its quality improves - the grassy taste characteristic of a drink obtained from freshly harvested coffee is lost. For example, Arabian coffee from Yemen acquires its high quality only after a three-year shelf life, and Brazilian - only after 8-10 years of storage.

Along with the traditional, there is an American technology for processing raw coffee, for which special chemicals are used. As a result of this treatment, the need to withstand coffee for several years is eliminated.

Roasting coffee beans

A very important, if not the most important stage in the production of coffee is the process bean roasting, thanks to which the whole bouquet of aroma and taste of grain is revealed. Roasting expensive coffees is still done by hand, as this process is more of an art than a technology, where much depends on the experience and skill of the roaster.

If the grains are poorly roasted, the taste of the drink will be spoiled. Properly roasted beans should have a bright sheen and look the same. If they are dull, then this indicates that the grains are either overdried, or the roasting technology has been violated.

There are different degrees of roasting, each of which is able to give a different flavor to the same type of coffee.

• Light frying only applies to high quality, delicate Arabica beans grown in the highlands. This method of roasting is also called semi-urban or New England. In the US, light roasted coffee is called cinnamon because of the similarity in color of the roasted beans to the bark of this spicy plant. Coffee brewed from lightly roasted beans has a sour, slightly watery taste.
• Scandinavian roasting- a kind of light roasting, as a result of which the grains, roasted at 220-230 ºC, acquire a light brown color. This method differs in that coffee aromas and oils do not come out, but are concentrated inside the bean. Scandinavian roasted coffee is used to make a drink in drip-type coffee makers and a French press.
• medium roast- American way. It differs in that coffee beans are roasted intensively and for a long time, but at the same time they never allow the release of oily substances on their surface. As a result of roasting, the beans acquire a dark color, and the finished coffee drink has a luxurious aroma with a bitter aftertaste.
• viennese roast- darker than Scandinavian, it is most popular in Central Europe. It is also called light French, business or urban. With this method of heat treatment, dark brown spots and oils appear on the surface of the grains, and, accordingly, the drink from them is quite fragrant. This type of roasting is especially suitable for drip coffee makers and French presses.
• french fry- a strong degree. The grains acquire a dark brown color and begin to shine from abundantly released oils. From such grains, a drink with bitterness and a smack of fire smoke is obtained. In some cases, espresso is made from this roasted coffee. Basically, it is used in French press coffee makers and coffee pots.
• Continental way- more commonly known as double or heavy roast. The grains take on the color of dark chocolate. In the United States, coffee that has undergone this treatment is called French roasted, New Orleans roasted, or European roasted.
• Italian roast- the darkest, produced at a high temperature, which allows you to maximize the taste of coffee beans. As a result, the grains become very oily, almost black in color. Italian roasted coffee is only used for espresso or moka coffee machines. By the way, in Italy itself, coffee is roasted to a lighter shade than, for example, in the USA.

By mixing roasted coffee beans of different varieties and different degrees of roasting, manufacturers achieve unique flavor combinations, and the composition of the resulting blends is kept in the strictest confidence.

Only a small part of the coffee is roasted by hand, the bulk is automated. In the industrial production of coffee, there are three main types of roasting: thermal (contact and convective), dielectric and radiation.

With the thermal contact method, the heated metal of the walls of a special drum containing two and a half hundred kilograms of green beans transfers heat to the coffee bean. But this method did not find wide application, especially after convective devices appeared in the coffee processing enterprises of Brazil and the USA in 1935. In them, a jet of air heated to 200 C stains coffee beans in a chestnut color, and different varieties of coffee are brought to varying degrees of darkening. In the drums, the beans are not completely roasted, but only give them a soft brown color, allowing the coffee beans to "reach" due to their own heat. This ensures uniform roasting, and the grains do not contain impurities and acquire a smooth, shiny surface.

Dielectric frying uses microwave energy. Since microwaves are able to evenly penetrate deep into the coffee beans, regardless of their size, the beans roasted in this way are characterized by a uniform taste. The peculiarities of microwave energy make it possible to make the roasting process continuous and faster, and the coffee obtained in this way contains the maximum amount of extractive substances.

The radiation roasting method was invented in the USA. As a rule, roasting with the help of ionizing radiation energy is used for combined production methods - first, coffee beans are translucent with gamma rays, and then roasted using standard heat treatment technologies - but in a shorter period of time.

During the heat treatment, coffee beans increase in size up to one and a half times, but at the same time lose about 20 percent in weight due to the evaporation of water, the combustion of foreign particles and the decomposition of certain substances. But at the same time, a new element is born during roasting - caffeol, which allows us to enjoy the wonderful aroma of roasted coffee.

Sometimes, to give the grains a special shine, they are covered with a very thin layer of glycerin or a sugar solution.

If in the final version coffee is delivered to the market in beans, then its processing is completed: coffee beans are packed in specialized sealed packaging and sent to their destination.

Grinding coffee beans

Everyone knows that coffee is brewed from ground coffee beans, and therefore they must first be ground. They do this in two ways: industrial and at home, and it is believed that the latter is used by true coffee lovers.

Regardless of the method, coffee is coarse grinding, medium and fine, sometimes a very fine grinding is also distinguished (like top quality flour). If coffee is ground industrially, then it is additionally sifted through sieves with cells of different sizes so that the grains in the finished product are the same. This is done because grains of different sizes will give the drink their taste, aromatic and other useful substances in different ways. The finer the grinding, the greater the solubility of these substances, the richer, and therefore the tastier and more aromatic the drink.

Solubility of aromatic substances in fine grind coffee- 1-4 minutes, medium - 4-6 minutes, and coarse 6-8 minutes. At first glance, it would seem that finely ground coffee is the best, but this is not always the case. For example, it is completely unsuitable for brewing coffee in machines where hot water is forced through the coffee powder. The finer the powder, the more difficult it is for water to flow through it. Therefore, the grind must be chosen exactly according to the way the coffee will be brewed.

Coarse grinding is universal, suitable for cooking in any coffee pot. The medium one also works with most methods, while the small one is for filter coffee makers. Ultra-fine processing powder is used only for brewing Turkish coffee according to the original recipe using Turks (cezve).

Ground coffee, prepared industrially, goes on sale in hermetically sealed bags, from which the air is pumped out or replaced with an inert gas. In such packages, coffee does not spoil for six months or even longer. Bags with vents are considered the best packaging. But an open package loses its wonderful properties, therefore, after opening it, it is desirable to tie or seal it as tightly as possible. There is such a way to store ground coffee: cut a small semicircle in the bag, bend it, quickly pour out the right amount of coffee, then close the hole. Place the package in a tightly closed metal box, which is placed in a dry, cool place.

Connoisseurs say that the most delicious drink with a rich unique bouquet is obtained only from freshly ground selected grains, ground with a manual coffee grinder. It is more difficult and longer to grind grains on it, but the coffee does not heat up much, and, accordingly, loses its aroma less.

It is easier and faster to grind coffee beans with an electric coffee grinder. Depending on how long the coffee is ground, different grinds are obtained. But there is a limit, when it is no longer possible to grind finer, and with further exposure, the coffee only heats up. If this happens, it is recommended to remove the lid of the coffee grinder and let the coffee cool down. The aroma of ground coffee dissipates quickly, so it's best to grind as much coffee as needed for one go.

On a good coffee grinder, you can make coffee of different grinding: from coarse to extra fine.

Instant coffee

Instant coffee appeared relatively recently and quickly became popular all over the world due to its ease of preparation. The taste and aroma of instant coffee is somewhat weaker compared to natural coffee, and the caffeine content, on the contrary, is much higher - sometimes four times. Instant coffee is both natural and with various additives - chicory, rye, oats and other cereals.

Instant coffee, as a rule, is made from the Robusta variety, as it retains the taste and aroma of the natural product better during processing. Sometimes there is a mixture of varieties. Such coffee is more aromatic and has better taste properties. In the production of some elite varieties, beans of the highest grade Arabica are used, but such coffee is much more expensive.

Powdered coffee has the simplest manufacturing technology: the grains are crushed to a particle size of 1.5-2 mm, then they are treated for 3-4 hours with hot water under a pressure of 15 atmospheres. The extract obtained is cooled, filtered and then dried with hot air. The resulting powdery mass is cooled.

Granulated coffee obtained by special treatment of the powder with steam, which causes it to stick together into granules.

The most expensive is the freeze-dry production method. The frozen and crushed coffee broth is fed into a vacuum tunnel, where the ice evaporates, bypassing the liquid state. The dehydrated mass breaks - as a result, uneven crystals are obtained. Coffee made using this technology is called freeze-dried coffee. Of all types of instant coffee, it has a more delicate taste and aroma.

When I was a child, my parents subscribed to me the magazine "Young Naturalist". One day, picking up another issue of a magazine, I was shocked by the beauty of a flower on a glossy page. This plant is flowering.
I did not become a fan of cacti, but that incident carried me into the Divine world of flowers and the beauty of nature.

My last hobby from houseplants is coffee.
In my favorite kitchen next to me help me: , and a coffee green baby.

... I planted a coffee bean for the sake of interest. And suddenly, to my surprise, a green sprout soon erupted from the ground!
Five years have passed since then. And so my grown-up coffee handsome man decided to please and surprise me with fragrant flowers - they bloomed in the axils of green wavy leaves.

The story of my favorite green pet that grew from a seed, I would like to add one of the coffee legends that I collect.
“Coffee was discovered in Ethiopia, in the province of Kaffa. The honor of this discovery belongs to a simple shepherd of sheep and goats. He noticed that grazing animals, after pinching the leaves of a certain tree, begin to jump, kick and butt, not calming down for a long time.
The observant shepherd decided to try to chew these leaves too. Then he was surprised to note that he had not slept safely all night without any effort on himself.
Since then, local shepherds, in order to easily stay awake at night, protecting their flocks from predators, chewed the leaves of one of the trees that grew abundantly here. This was the coffee tree.
Subsequently, the ancient inhabitants of North Africa learned to brew a special drink - first from coffee leaves, and then from the fruits of this amazing tree.

Against the background of bright green leaves of a coffee tree, white fragrant flowers look very beautiful. After a few months, elegant coffee fruits, containing one or more seeds under juicy sweet pulp, successfully ripen in room conditions.

Tatyana Nikolaevna Klyushnik (Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine)

Coffee joys of the grower

Coffee is a fragrant and invigorating drink that is incredibly popular all over the world.
Interesting fact: the word "coffee" comes from the Turkish word kahve, and it in turn comes from the Arabic word qahwa, which translates as "wine"...

“His choice is full now: Robusta, Arabica +
There are many varieties that are best for us.
It is unique in its aroma,
Roasted coffee - that's what we need!

Coffee trees, from the grains of the fruits of which coffee is made, grow and bear fruit in the tropics and subtropics of Africa and Asia. In nature, this is a tall plant (reaches 6 meters), and in culture, the height of a coffee tree or shrub is several times lower.

In fact, this exotic plant is not very difficult to grow at home. Therefore, a dwarf coffee tree with its evergreen shiny leaves, with fragrant white flowers, with beautiful "berries" - drupes, is included in the range of decorative indoor plants. Moreover, coffee is also a fruit plant. After all, adult specimens of coffee trees and shrubs, even at home, are able to regularly bear full-fledged fruits.
A ripe coffee fruit has a peel under its sticky edible pulp, and seeds are enclosed in a shell under it - usually a couple of grains.

Fresh seeds extracted from the ripe fruits of the coffee tree growing in the room germinate well in a pot (if sown immediately after harvest), and the seedlings are actively developing.

When growing coffee from a seed, do not deepen it very deeply - 1 cm from the surface of the earth is enough. In moderately moist soil, at room temperature, friendly seedlings of coffee appear in about 1-2 months.

This light-loving and heat-loving guest of the tropics and subtropics grows best on the southern, southeastern, southwestern windows. However, do not forget that strong sunlight delays the growth of a young coffee tree.

Please note that coffee is quite demanding on. It is better to water the plant with settled water.
In winter, watering coffee can be reduced to once a week. In the summer, during the period of active growth, I spray the crown of the tree in the evening.

I transplant young seedlings every spring (March-April), because coffee is very responsive to transplantation. I start transplanting when the root system of the plant has filled the entire pot. At the same time, the dimensions of the new container should exceed the previous one by no more than 5 cm.
If you transplant coffee immediately into a very large container, then it will not mind this - it will also grow normally. However, the plant will respond to this with less abundant flowering and, consequently, weaker fruiting - until the time when its roots have mastered the space of a disproportionately large pot.

The main thing that a young coffee tree needs for crown growth as a top dressing is nitrogen; and its best source is manure.
In order for your coffee tree to develop well, bloom and bear fruit regularly, you need to feed it after 10 days during the period of active growth.
In the autumn-winter period, when plant growth is delayed, I feed coffee less often (after 15-20 days).

As the developing coffee tree branches, it is produced to produce a beautiful plant with abundant flowering.

Well, if you have a well-grown coffee tree that blooms and bears fruit, then it remains to regularly collect ripened fruits and clean the beans before roasting.
I wish you pleasure and benefit from a natural invigorating drink!

Marina Shchepetkina

The selection of materials for this article was carried out by Ziborova E.Yu. according to the stories of the readers of the site sent to the competition "".

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I'm "snickering", gentlemen. When I was offered to fly to Brazil to watch how coffee is harvested, the first thing I thought was: “Well, what the hell do I need all this for?”, I agreed to the second thought. After all, watching others work is a very enjoyable experience. From Moscow to Paris, from Paris to Sao Paulo, from Sao Paulo to the town of Vitoria, where people walk along the runway from the gangway to the airport. I am in Brazil for the second time - from the first I remember only the meeting with Ronaldo, the constant rain in Rio and the most important acquaintance for me.
Vitoria is sad and depressed. Especially in the rain. But how I missed so many South American gestures: the eyelid being pulled down, meaning danger and caution, and the thumb up, which in Brazilians means almost everything.


In the morning the weather returned to normal, and we moved towards the plantations. Three hours to the God-forgotten semi-Polish settlement of Agva Branca, lost among the "sleeping elephants" - that's what I call these stone hills. Here appeared a character named Carlos, a man with the appearance of Richard Gere and Dan Petrescu, a descendant of Polish settlers, a planter and landowner. Carlos went to show us his land. Together with Carlos, his whole family went, a personal photographer (for some reason!), an English teacher from a local school and a couple of her students who wanted to see foreigners. The show lasted three hours - Carlos has so much land. 140 hectares and 130 thousand coffee trees on them. Each tree needs up to 10 liters of water per day. In each row of coffee plantations, someone was moving frantically, harvesting. One could stop and ask: "And whose land is this?" "Marquis de Carlos!" - would have answered in the bushes.

Carlos explained something for a long time about irrigation technology and careful selection of grains, but for you, my beautiful readers, I will not go into details, but will tell you "on the fingers and in a nutshell."
So, for example, ripe coffee beans look just taken from a branch. If you remove the husk from them, then they will even taste sweet. Each tree produces 5 kg of coffee - and only 20 mugs of coffee.

I would have climbed a mountain a long time ago and painted the eyes, ears of the "elephants", ... Or at least I would have written some kind of curse or a declaration of love. I remember seeing a similar Stone in Colombia: between the settlement of El Peñol and Guatape. Huge letters GI are displayed on its side. It turns out that Guatape and El Penol argued for a long time to whom this work of nature belongs, until finally the Guatapins climbed onto the Stone and began to display the name of their settlement on it. The El Peñols saw this through a spyglass and sharpened their knives in the direction of the Stone, drove the Guatapes from it - but one and a half initial letters from the word Guatape remained on its surface.

This is a coffee bush nursery. Very small trees are grown here. Ridges with cylinders of soil and seedlings tightly fitted to each other are crowned by the upturned bum of a Brazilian peasant woman. She did not enter the frame, sorry. In the evening we dined at the ex-mayor of Agva Branca. All his guests called me Neymar because of the hairstyle, in honor of the now super-popular football player. The translator confused me and called me Niemeyer after the famous Brazilian architect. I drank cachaça - and I didn't care if I was Neymar or Niemeyer. In the morning we arrived at the grain dryer. They are brought to plantations and loaded into huge cylinders, which are spun from the inside by specially trained Brazilian squirrels. How proteins do not burn inside there is still unknown to science. Then the grains are packed in bags and sweaty muchachos load them on transport to the warehouse.



The warehouse is like an exhibition of another crazy contemporary artist practicing to replicate the same object throughout the entire space of the hall.
As a result of roasting, coffee acquires its famous dark hue...

The final chord was the ascent to the Cross. Any locality in Brazil that has a mountain is crowned with a Cross or a Statue of Christ on it. Such is the Law. Behind the gate with the inscription "Mountain brings us closer to God" opened a view of the whole of Brazil - from border to border. And the Brazilian landscape is wonderful - it's a pity I'm not Levitan to portray it with dignity ...