Mapping the mountainous climate in the Matas de Minas region, Brazil which influences the top-quality coffee beverages

Abstract

All the characteristics of the mountainous environment directly influence the coffee crops, and subsequently, on the final coffee note, that reflects the quality of the beverage produced in a region. Despite increasing coffee research, little is known about the influence of the water indices, factors, and the elements of climate on top-quality coffee production potential. Thus, the present study was carried out aiming to analyze the water indices, causes, and aspects of clime, to identify those that most contribute to the potential production of high-quality Arabica coffee beverages in a mountain environment. We considered harvesting the coffee fruits at the cherry stage in 26 municipalities in the Matas de Minas region in the Atlantic Forest Biome in the eastern state of Minas Gerais, and the International Cup of Excellence method was adopted for the sensory evaluation. The principal components analysis and the multiple linear regression (MLR) were used to relate the local environmental variables with the final grade of the coffee beverage. As a result, the Multiple Linear Regression model showed the value of 0.63 for R2. This result means that the joint variability of all the variables considered explained 63% of the changes in coffee beverage quality. And the altitude impact on the grade achieved for the coffee beverage produced in the Matas de Minas region, represented by β, was 0.008068, meaning that for every 100 meters of increase in the altitude, there is an approximate increment of 0.8 points in the final note achieved for the coffee beverage. Among all the environmental characteristics studied, the climatic factor altitude was the main contributor to the coffee top-quality production potential in the Matas de Minas region.