Brazil’s specialty-coffee industry is challenging one of the market’s longest-standing assumptions: that premium beans are synonymous with arabica.
The Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association, or BSCA, is moving to recognize specialty-grade canephora coffees, the species that includes robusta and conilon. The group plans to select top Brazilian lots and then submit them to international judges, a step aimed at building recognition at home and abroad.
If successful, the initiative could broaden the premium segment in a country where arabica has dominated specialty coffee for decades.
Brazil is the world’s largest producer and exporter of arabica, with output concentrated in areas including southern Minas Gerais, the Triângulo Mineiro and Cerrado regions, and the interior of São Paulo state. Arabica is expected to account for about 63% of Brazil’s 2025/26 coffee crop.
Its share of exports is even larger, at 76%, according to Cecafé, Brazil’s coffee exporters council. Demand spans established markets such as the US, Japan and Germany as well as newer buyers in China, Asia and the Middle East.
Specialty exports also command higher prices. In 2025, they fetched an average premium of $76 per 60-kilogram bag, or 21% more than conventional coffee, according to Cecafé.
That price incentive has helped drive a sharp expansion in Brazil’s specialty-coffee output. Production rose from 120,000 60-kilogram bags in 1999 to 9.5 million bags in 2025, BSCA data show. About 8.5 million bags were exported, with 1 million consumed domestically.
Rehabilitating Canephora
Two shifts are now eroding arabica’s dominance in Brazil’s specialty segment, said Vinicius Estrela, BSCA’s executive director.
First, canephora growers in producing regions including Espírito Santo, Rondônia and Bahia have been improving quality across the production chain, from the use of more specialized fertilizers and machinery in the field to better post-harvest processing.
Practices that once hurt cup quality — including inadequate drying and storage under excessive moisture — are increasingly being replaced by tighter handling standards. Similar improvements in major canephora-producing countries such as Vietnam have helped turn the quality push into a broader global trend.
At the same time, canephora prices have strengthened, narrowing a gap with arabica that historically left arabica trading at two to four times the price.
In a rare reversal, Brazilian domestic canephora prices briefly exceeded arabica prices between August and September 2024. Arabica soon regained its premium, but the differential has remained narrower than in the past.
The price shift has encouraged growers to improve production practices and expand planted area. Rising consumer curiosity about different coffee profiles is also helping change perceptions of the species.
“BSCA was created with an arabica focus, but since 2015 we have recognized that canephora can also reach specialty standards,” Estrela said.
BSCA has launched the Best of Canephora Brazil 2026 competition to select the country’s 25 best samples from the 2026/27 crop. The finalists were announced this month and will be reassessed by international judges in November.
Winning lots will be the first in the competition to score 83 points or more. They will then be offered at an international auction, part of an effort to expose buyers and roasters to higher-quality Brazilian canephoras.
What Counts As Specialty
The modern specialty-coffee movement dates to the 1970s. The Specialty Coffee Association of America was founded in 1982 and helped establish a 100-point system for grading green coffee before roasting.
In 2017, the US group merged with its European counterpart to form the Specialty Coffee Association, or SCA.
Coffee scoring above 80 points is generally considered specialty grade. Judges assess attributes including aroma, flavor, acidity, aftertaste and balance.
Sustainability is also becoming more important to the segment, Estrela said, with specialty coffee increasingly tied to traceability as well as sustainable and regenerative farming practices.
Under the grading framework cited by BSCA, coffee below 75 points is considered commercial. Scores from 75 to 79.99 are classified as gourmet but not specialty. Coffees from 80 to 84.99 are considered very good, while those from 85 to 89.99 are excellent. Scores of 90 and above are reserved for exceptional coffees, typically associated with more exotic flavors and floral or fruit complexity.
The definition of specialty coffee continues to evolve, Estrela said. A 2021 revision broadened the concept beyond the physical bean to include the overall experience surrounding specialty coffee.
BSCA was founded in 1991 by 12 producers. It now has 560 members, including growers, machinery companies, cooperatives and trading firms.
Brazil’s specialty-coffee culture gained momentum in the 2000s with the growth of independent cafés and micro-roasters in cities including São Paulo and Curitiba. Nespresso’s arrival in Brazil in 2006 also helped popularize capsule-based espresso and premium coffee consumption.
Estrela said that evolution has made Brazilian consumers more attentive to origin and flavor differences.
“I may drink a sweeter coffee in the morning and a fruitier one in the afternoon,” he said. “That variety allows cafés to serve different preferences, even when they are only a few blocks apart.”
This story was translated from the original Portuguese with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by The AgriBiz editorial staff.
