Economic boom in Brazil is fuelling coffee culture

As temperatures dip during the Southern Hemisphere winter, business is heating up at trendy city coffee shops in Brazil's biggest tourist resort, Rio de Janeiro.

Though Brazil traditionally has been the world's biggest coffee producer, its people have only recently become big drinkers of the beverage.

In the past, the best coffee was exported. Brazilians had to settle for leftovers - often mixed with chicory, corn or other grains to save money. The sickly sweet cafeizinho was served at hole-in-wall botequims whose main money maker was beer and where women were seldom seen.

Improved quality and marketing have led to a boom as coffee became chic to drink in coffee shops, at work and at home.

"We organized a winter coffee marketing campaign with roasters and supermarkets to give demand an extra boost," said Nathan Herszkowicz, executive director of the Sao Paulo-based Brazilian Coffee Industry Association. Sales rose about 15 per cent in July, he said.

Ultimately, the Brazilian Coffee Industry Association wants Brazil to overtake the United States as the world champion coffee-drinking country. For now, it is targeting 21 million 60-kilogram bags by 2010, up from an expected 16 million bags this year and more than double the level of the mid-1980s.

Young executives in downtown Rio de Janeiro flock into Rubro Café, which opened last year on the site of the city's old coffee trading exchange, for an after-lunch espresso.

"People come here to chat, relax and enjoy fine espresso," said Oswaldo Aranha Netto who launched Rubro with Armino Fraga, former chief of Brazil's central bank.

Mr. Aranha said Brazilians are becoming more sophisticated coffee drinkers.

"When I tried to roast the beans a little less to give the coffee more acidity there was nearly a mutiny," said Mr. Aranha, a former Brazilian coffee exporters' leader, who buys and roasts beans in south Minas, Brazil's premium coffee region.

Encouraged by the success of Rubro Café, Mr. Aranha plans a second coffee shop in Rio's up-market seaside suburb of Barra da Tijuca where many of his clients live. It will target evening and after-cinema clientele.

At Armazem do Cafe, owner Marcos Modiano offers a range of gourmet Brazilian coffees in his six coffee shops, mostly in the wealthy beachside districts of Ipanema and Leblon.

"Perhaps I'll open one more coffee shop in Leblon but I don't want to grow and risk losing quality," Modiano said. He said he wanted to stick with hands-on management.

"You can't multiply gourmet cafés like a fast-food chain without losing quality," he said.

Sipping a late-lunch espresso, media worker Elizabeth Campos said, "I like to sit and chat with my friends over a good espresso - I drink coffee all day."

Mr. Modiano, whose family was a major coffee exporter, said that after persuading women and young people to adopt the coffee culture, he would now market the beverage as an "energy" drink.

He plans to install espresso machines in Rio's health clubs or academias as they are known by Brazilians.

Rio de Janeiro, which had a reputation for rotten coffee, is now following the quality trend set by big sister Sao Paulo, Brazil's financial and commercial capital where trendy coffee shops are popular meeting places for the upwardly mobile.

Coffee shops are sprouting at a time when Brazilians have more money to spend, with economic growth steady after a 4.9% jump in 2004, inflation down and unemployment at a three-year low.

Coffee also has carved out space on supermarket shelves, which account for 75 per cent of domestic sales. TV marketing campaigns also are helping grow the customer base.

A recent prime-time Sunday evening show on Globo television, Brazil's main network, featured clips on a variety of coffee drinks in different parts of Brazil.

In tropical Belem at the mouth of the Amazon river, coffee is served as a creamy iced drink. In Brazil's biggest coffee state of Minas Gerais, it's served with rapadura sugar blocks. It comes chilled and spiced with red pepper in Rio, while in Sao Paulo it's mixed with fruits and appears in the yellow, green, blue and white colours of the national flag.

Mr. Herszkowicz of the Brazilian Coffee Industry Association estimated that Brazil now has about 2,500 coffee shops, of which 1,000 are owned by five groups.

But the number trails far behind the United States, which has about 17,000.

"Coffee shops are fundamental for quality growth, providing a place where people can meet, relax and mix business with pleasure," Mr. Herszkowicz said.

(Published: The Globe and Mail, August 15, 2005)

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