Coffee had been cultivated in Brazil for some time, since it was brought to the country in 1727 by Francisco Palheta. Since then, the product had spread throughout the national territory, but it was not cultivated commercially; it was mainly for domestic consumption. The coffee culture was far behind that of sugar and cotton and, besides this, the product did not have great importance in world markets and was difficult to plant. Because the coffee tree is a delicate plant that needs a lot of care, it only lives well in certain temperatures, it needs regular rainfall and appropriate soil, besides taking four or five years to grow and produce the bean.
