"I used to buy coffee from a different organic producer but I didn’t want to end up with lots of Brazilian coffees that tasted the same. I wanted to make it simple. When Maurício said he could do it [transition], I asked Eli [Blaich, Sourcing Manager at Algrano] to facilitate a few meetings. She could translate and it was important to get the details right. It was the first time we did a futures contract and Eli guided me." - Philipp Schallberger, co-founder at Kaffeemacher
Organic Coffee from Brazil Is More Important Than Ever. But Why Is It So Rare?
Brazil has the scale and technology to lead organic coffee production. Yet, only 0.3% of the country’s production is organic. Understand Brazil’s disastrous “lazyganic” experience and why you should know about the new transition coffee from APAS roasted by Kaffeemacher in Switzerland.
It shows how the roastery is encouraging organic production and having a positive social and environmental impact on the lives of its suppliers.
These are the questions we're going to answer:
- A production overview: How much organic coffee is produced in Brazil?
- What's the history of organic coffee production in Brazil?
- Why the country’s first attempt to produce organic in the 90s was a disaster?
- What makes organic coffee from Brazil expensive when conventional is cheap(er)?
- Why do eco-labelled coffee beans have a liquidity problem?
- What are the costs of production of organic coffee and how do they compare to conventional - with a full breakdown of costs provided by APAS?
- How Kaffeemacher is helping APAS transition to organic?
- What are the challenges to producing organic coffee in Brazil?
- Why it’s important to buy coffee in transition to organic?
- How Kaffeemacher manages to pay more for coffee without increasing their prices to consumers too much?
Organic Brazil: Only 150 Thousand Bags a Year.

Cassio Franco Moreira, an agronomist with a PhD in Agroecology and CEO of ACOB (Brazilian Association of Organic and Sustainable Coffees) estimates that the country currently produces only 150 thousand bags of organic coffee per year. Another mere 50 thousand bags are in transition.
>> More About Coffee Production in Brazil.
Just 0.2% of the Land. Merely 0.3% of the Volume.

>> Organic Coffee from Ethiopia on Algrano.
>> See APAS Cooperative Profile on Algrano.
"I used to buy coffee from a different organic producer but I didn’t want to end up with lots of Brazilian coffees that tasted the same. I wanted to make it simple. When Maurício said he could do it [transition], I asked Eli [Blaich, Sourcing Manager at Algrano] to facilitate a few meetings. She could translate and it was important to get the details right. It was the first time we did a futures contract and Eli guided me." - Philipp Schallberger, co-founder at Kaffeemacher

History of Organic Coffee Production in Brazil.

>> Read Other Algrano Stories on Brazilian Coffee and Relationships.
“Lazyganic”: a Short-Lived Story of Success.

>> Get More Information on Coffee Prices Here!
Why Is Organic Coffee from Brazil Expensive?

>> Get More Information on Coffee Prices Here!
Certified Coffees Have a Liquidity Problem.

Cassio explains that the technology to improve organic production needs refining to the terroir. And it takes time. “Conventional production is a lot more homogenous. Organic is different. You need to understand your technological package and have a team that is very switched on to it.”

Does It Cost More to Produce Organic Coffee in Brazil?

>> Check All Verified Sellers from Brazil on Algrano.
>> Organic Coffee from Central America: What's on Offer.
Though we can have an idea of how much producers get paid (on average), we don’t know if they are profitable. Other than Fairtrade’s Living Income Reference Price for Coffee from Colombia, there is little data on production costs and yields, let alone farmgate prices.

>> See ICO Data on Prices Paid to Coffee Producers.
>> Access Fairtrade's Living Income Reference Price for Coffee from Colombia.
The Curious Case of Kaffeemacher and APAS Coffee

>> Read More About the Hervaz Family.
Challenges of Organic Coffee Production.

The farmer explains that organic inputs tend to be more expensive than chemicals. And demand for them is also growing among conventional farmers. “People are seeing that organic products are good. Bacillus subtilis is an example. Folks have been using it a lot against leaf rust.”
Production Costs: Organic vs. Conventional.

Production Costs: the Breakdown.


Why Buying Coffee in Transition to Organic Matters.

Finding the Point of Balance for the Roastery.

For Philipp, supporting APAS (they even pre-financed the coffee through Algrano!) is a matter of living up to what they say. “The biggest carbon emissions in coffee are in production. We have to look into this. I’m fed up with just looking into what kind of plastic bags we use.”

- He got a bigger roasting machine so they could roast more coffee in less time.
- He reduced the in-between-batch time by 1 minute so they could roast at least one more batch per day.
Luiza Furquim is the Head of Content at Algrano, the world’s leading direct trade platform for green coffee. Originally from Brazil, she worked as a reporter in Sāo Paulo before moving to the UK, where she became a specialty roaster. Having visited dozens of coffee producers, Luiza is passionate about sharing their stories.

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