Specialty Coffee Retailer is a publication for owners, managers and employees of retail outlets that sell specialty coffee. Its scope includes best sales practices, supplies, business trends and anything else to assist the small coffee retailer.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/28793
SANTO GRAO CAFÉS Sao Paulo, Brazil BY ROBERT W. THURSTON I n roughly the past ten years, Brazil has gone from producing huge amounts of mediocre coffee and having no attractive cafés to offering many excellent beans and a growing number of exciting places in which to drink the liquefied results. Santo Grao, with five locations in Sao Paulo, combines some of the best of Brazilian design, use of materials, and quality in the cup. On a recent Roasters Guild trip to Brazil, our host and interpreter was Edgard Bressani, point man for Ipanema Coffees. During our first evening in Sao Paulo, Edgard took us to Santo Grao’s original store for coffee and dinner. We returned about a week later. On both visits, the place was packed. According to Edgard, the chain’s success is due to three factors: locations in upscale areas of Sao Paulo; simple but tasty food served in shops that make bold use of local materials (especially Brazilian woods) in the décor; and the high quality of the coffee. I can attest to the food’s appeal; my feijoada, a stew of pork and beef cubes served over rice with local herbs, was tender and tasty. Price was about $20. Te neighborhood seemed fine, but Sao Paulo, with a population estimated at 12 to 13 million, is bigger than huge, and crawling through the streets to get to any one location requires LOCATIONS 5 shops throughout Sao Paulo EQUIPMENT Mazzer grinders; a Mahlkoenig or two also can be seen. The roaster is a Probat version made in Brazil. Espresso makers are La Cimbali, a 2-head and a 3-head machine in the shop I visited. WEB www.santograo.com.br 52 | April 2011 • www.specialty-coffee.com considerable patience. But the Brazilian economy is booming, and the middle class is now large enough to spread money around any attractive food or beverage business, as we saw in other cafés, restaurants, and in a bar district on a Saturday evening. Santo Grao is all wood and machinery, nothing too fancy. By day the floor-length windows onto the sidewalk are opened wide, flooding the interior with light. At night, there is just enough artificial lighting to show off the grain in the rough- sawn boards that line the interior. Te ambience is urban- rustic—no gimmicks, just quality. Above all, Santo Grao is about coffee. Te American roasters agreed the espresso had subtle layers of flavor, good crema, and a long, sweet finish. Well-equipped and prepared to meet a wide range of customers’ desires, the café features an astonishing counter at the back with Mazzer Super Jolly grinders set side by side, one reserved for each kind of coffee served. Behind this display is a heſty roaster. Alas, there was no Kopi Luwak in the grinder designated for that bean, so once more I only came close to trying the reputedly wretched stuff brew. But what the heck—I saved $17 by not having a cup! I did have the house blend, and I add my vote to the roasters’ opinion. A double espresso is 5.90 reales, just under $1. A double cappuccino or latte is less than $1.50, so drinking coffee in a setting as nice as Santo Grao is a serious bargain. A kilo (2.2 pounds) of roasted whole beans ranges from 40.50 reales for Cerrado or Sul Minas to 43 reales for organic, or from about $11 to $11.73. Another good buy, although you might have to carry a bag a long way home. Opened by an expat from New Zealand, Marco Kerkmeester, the main shop has 44 tables with a capacity downstairs of 100. Upstairs there is a small cupping lab where baristas are trained and customers can take short courses. Te café serves some 800 people a day, of whom about 200 order straight espresso. SCR