Azores Coffee

Those interested in the coffee of Cape Verde might be interested in developments in its Macaronesian neighbor, the Azores, which grows both tea and coffee. It is being commercialized as part of ecotourism and in mainland cafés in Portugal. 

The mainland marketing is described in the October 2023 article “Impossible coffee” launched in Portugal: Delta has launched the first Portuguese coffee entirely produced in the Azores.

Café Nunes - Café da Fajã dos Vimes is a coffee ecotourism site on the island of São Jorge.

Fogo Coffee Culture 2016 / 2017 Videos

In 2016, the Há Mar Há Terra channel posted this 20-minute video Cultura de Café no Fogo, centered on the Coffee Spirit operations in Mosteiros. My students and I visited this processing mill during our January 2024 course. 

Viewers who do not speak Portuguese can still benefit from these visual presentations from field through cup.

I look forward to learning more from this leading coffee operation.

In 2017, the municipality of Mosteiros produced a 50-minute video about the same operation. The Djar Fogo Coffee Spirit video has English subtitles.

Travel Courses

My first visit to Cape Verde was in March of 2006, when I led a rather generalized travel course (aka study tour) on the subject of sustainability. It took almost two decades for the proverbial stars to align for a second course, this one focused on the geography of coffee and volcanoes. 

Much of the world's best coffee grows on volcanic soils. The island of Java is perhaps the most iconic example, but the Central American coffees that I know best are grown on dormant volcanoes, and the specific minerality of long-ago volcanoes is thought to be contribute for the rich variety of flavor profiles in those coffees.

The coffee industry of Cape Verde is unusual in that the majority of its coffee grows on an active volcano. Moreover, wine grapes are grown on the same volcano -- the island of Fogo. During our travel course, I became a bit more familiar with the volcano and with both of these agricultural products. I decided that I could best contribute to the progress of the country's coffee industry by returning for a much closer look. I have applied for a sabbatical leave to do exactly that in the first half of 2026.

Seja Bem-Vindo

 Welcome to Cape Verde Coffee. This blog is part of my upcoming sabbatical in Cape Verde.

From the tasting table at Coffee Spirit in Mindelo, Cape Verde.

The coffee industry of Cape Verde is very small and also very specialized. It has certain characteristics that are perhaps unique to this island nation, but literature is not widely available. I have been learning about the industry for a few years and led a brief travel course there in January 2024. I plan to return for an extended stay in the spring semester of 2026, and will be using this blog to gather some of the information I find prior to and during that stay.

It is a source of pride to Cape Verdeans -- especially those in the diaspora. The purpose of this blog is to make information about this boutique coffee industry available to a wider audience, including curious Cape Verdeans and coffee professionals worldwide.