International Coffee Day

Blog post contributed by MIRA’s Communications Specialist, Farah Jeune

Did you know that October 1st is International Coffee Day?! This annual celebration honors coffee as a popular daily beverage but also a bean that connects cultures around the world.

Massachusetts is home to the second largest Brazilian population in the United States and Brazil is the largest coffee producer in the world! Brazil produces about one-third of the global coffee supply globally. MIRA’s Citizenship Director, Diane, is a proud Brazilian who loves brewing her own coffee!

Before we learn how Diane brews her own coffee, let’s learn about the brief history of coffee production in Brazil.

Legend has it that coffee production in Brazil began in 1727 when Portuguese officer Francisco de Melo Palheta traveled to French Guiana and allegedly smuggled coffee seeds in a bouquet of flowers. He planted the very first seeds in the northern state of Pará in Brazil and soon crops moved south to Rio de Janeiro by 1770 and later to São Paulo and Minas Gerais. For nearly a century, farmers grew coffee only for local needs but the soon high demand in Europe and the United States turned coffee into Brazil’s top export by 1830.

Enslaved people did the hard work on early coffee farms. During the early 1800’s, at the peak of Brazil’s coffee boom, an enslaved person’s typical working day was a grueling, sun-up to sun-down routine dictated by brutal labor and constant overseer surveillance. They did intensive tasks such as hand-picking coffee beans under the scorching sun, clearing land, weeding and pruning coffee trees. Brazil ended slavery in 1888.

Brazil’s unique position in the coffee world comes from its vast range of climates, massive scale, and pioneering work developing and adapting distinct coffee varietals like Mundo Novo and Catuai. Coffee varietals are distinct natural subspecies or cultivated types within a coffee species, much like different types of apples. While the genus Coffea has over 120 species, the vast majority of coffee comes from two primary species: Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora. Coffea arabica the coffee plant native to the highlands of Ethiopia and Sudan, produces the highest quality beans used for about 60% of the world’s coffee, including Brazil. 

By the early 20th century Brazil supplied 80 percent of all the world’s coffee, and it is still the world’s largest producer today! Brazilian coffee beans are world-renowned for their smooth, low-acidity profile, full body, and rich notes of chocolate, nuts, and caramel. 

“Oi, meu nome é Diane, eu sou a diretora do programa de cidadania da Coalizão MIRA. Quando era mais nova, crescendo no Brasil, não era muito fã de café, mas, assim que comecei a torrar meus próprios grãos, um mundo inteiro se abriu para mim e simplesmente me apaixonei por ele. Todas as manhãs, preparo uma xícara de café fresquinho.

Começo torrando uma porção, o que leva cerca de mais ou menos 15 minutos e rende para uma semana. O processo é muito fácil e terapêutico. Depois de torrar os grãos, eu os moo, o que é uma das minhas partes favoritas por causa do cheiro do café. Depois disso, é só hora de saboreá-lo.”

Today People try out new recipes, special beans, or coffee-inspired treats at home during International Coffee Day. For over a century, coffee has been a universal drink. People around the world drink over two billion cups of coffee every single day.

How do you like your coffee? Share your recipes in the comment section below. 

☕️ Support some local immigrant-owned cafe shops in Massachusetts.

• Càphê Collective (Vietnamese Cafe)

541 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139

• Andala Coffee House (Palestinian-owned cafe)

286 Franklin St, Cambridge, MA 02139

• Reign Drink Lab (Vietnamese – owned)

54 Old Colony Ave., Boston, MA 02127 (Inside B/Spoke Studio)

• Bon Specialty Coffee (Egyptian-owned specialty coffee shop)

22 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02108

• Ula Cafe (Black-owned, woman-owned, and veteran-owned cafe)

284 Amory St. Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

• Common Ground Coffee Roasters (Brazilian Cafe)

1727 Revere Beach Pkwy, Everett, MA 02149

• Cafe Brazil Bakery (Brazilian Cafe & Bakery)

125 Harvard Ave, Allston, MA 02134

• Cafe Reyes (Cuban Cafe & Restaurant)

421 Shrewsbury St, Worcester, MA 01609

• Ripple Cafe (Haitian-owned Cafe)

1906 Dorchester Ave Boston, MA 02124

• Arwa Yemeni Coffee (Yemeni Coffee Shop)

1333 Beacon St, Brookline, MA 02446

• Fasika Cafe (Ethiopian Cafe & Restaurant)

51 Roxbury St, Boston, MA 02119

• Mesob Restaurant & Bar (Ethiopian Restaurant)

1746 Washington St, Boston, MA 02118

• Yafa Bakery Cafe (Palestinian-owned bakery and cafe)

40 Church St, Boston, MA 02116

• Newbery Street Coffee Roasters (Thai coffee pop-up)

14 Harvard St, Brookline, MA 02445