Although many coffee trees survive much colder weather than they
really like, they simply cannot tolerate frost, which always causes
damage, some of it permanent; in the cases of a hard frost, sudden
or sustained, the trees will die. This seldom happens, but when it
does, it almost always happens in Brazil, which produces far more
coffee than any other country; the 1996-97 crop year figures show
that Brazil topped the list with 27.6 million bags, representing 27
percent of all world production. And why are the coffee plantation
of Brazil so prone to frost? The best Arabica beans grow in the
highest altitudes; much of Brazil is low, flat country, or even
rainforest. the only regions in which really good Arabica can be
grown are the higher plateaus of the South, located directly on the
Tropic of Capricorn, the outer limit of the temperate zone. Every
year the coffee world holds its breath in fear that a nasty cold
snap will wreak destruction in the plantations below Sao Paulo,
causing world prices to soar. Unfortunately, there is little that
can be done in the face of widespread frost, although heat machines
on the plantations can sometimes alleviate the damage.
