Creating an Affordable Luxury.
Before the hot, freshly brewed coffee makes its way from the urns at local coffee shops like Mozart’s, and into ceramic mugs all over the city, it’s tested by a man named Joel Shuler.
Shuler’s more than qualified for the job — he’s a licensed coffee Q Grader, which he says “is like the sommelier for wine.” So if anyone is to be testing the beans and roasts that are so crucial to many a morning routine, Shuler’s our guy. But, ever persnickety when it comes to coffee quality, he does more than just swirl and taste.
As the founder and owner of Casa Brasil, Shuler and his small team of employees are responsible for finding, curating and roasting most of the city’s supply of Brazilian coffee beans. Having always been interested in Brazil — Shuler used to travel there as teenager for soccer — it feels like the perfect job, even if it is a far cry from being a lawyer.
Shuler’s more than qualified for the job — he’s a licensed coffee Q Grader, which he says “is like the sommelier for wine.” So if anyone is to be testing the beans and roasts that are so crucial to many a morning routine, Shuler’s our guy. But, ever persnickety when it comes to coffee quality, he does more than just swirl and taste.
As the founder and owner of Casa Brasil, Shuler and his small team of employees are responsible for finding, curating and roasting most of the city’s supply of Brazilian coffee beans. Having always been interested in Brazil — Shuler used to travel there as teenager for soccer — it feels like the perfect job, even if it is a far cry from being a lawyer.
Back in 2003, Shuler was lured to Austin by UT’s law school. He had read a book called The Brazilians by a law school professor at Georgetown University, which he found particularly fascinating. After exchanging a few emails with the professor and expressing his interests, Shuler was advised that UT had “one of the largest centers for Brazilian learning outside of Brazil.” On a whim, Shuler visited Austin and fell in love with the city. “That was all it took,” he said. “I felt at home here.” After settling down in Austin, Shuler decided not to pursue a law degree, as his interests he found, were elsewhere. |
In 2005, he founded Casa Brasil as a Brazilian cultural center that provided Portuguese classes, music lessons and sold Brazilian products.
“We sold Brazilian brand coffees — like the Maxwell Houses of Brazil,” Shuler said. "They weren't very good, so I went to a local restaurant and asked them for their best Brazilian coffee, and they responded, ‘There is no such thing as good Brazilian coffee,’ so I thought I’d check that out.” As a coffee enthusiast, Shuler was determined to find good Brazilian coffee, a decision that changed the direction of his personal and professional life. Over the next three years, Shuler went back and forth between Austin and Brazil, interning with coffee tasters, coffee co-operatives and Brazilian universities to try to find out just how true a statement like “there is no such thing as good Brazilian coffee” could be. |
As it turns out, there is such a thing as good Brazilian coffee, and Shuler found it over the course of his time in the South American country. Not only is the coffee produced by Brazilian farmers of high quality, if you’re willing to look for it like Shuler is, those farmers are also producing more coffee than any other country in the world.
Part of that has to do with the way Brazilian farmers harvest their beans — a process Shuler has become very familiar with.
Part of that has to do with the way Brazilian farmers harvest their beans — a process Shuler has become very familiar with.
“The majority of specialty coffee in the world is done through selective harvesting,” Shuler said. “But if you look at the populations throughout the world who are picking coffee, they are oppressed populations. I think there’s a good problem in Brazil now, and that is they can’t find the labor, and it’s extremely expensive when they do to go pick the coffee. So in Brazil, they can’t do selective harvesting, they have to do strip picking, and I think that’s a good thing.”
Shuler explains that in most coffee-producing countries, the people who are in the fields, hand-picking the beans and doing the manual labor, are typically underpaid and overworked. But in Brazil, a country that can’t afford to fund the labor-intensive, hand-picking process that many think is necessary to produce specialty coffee, the quality screening comes in the form of a sorting process that’s much less back-breaking. |
As Shuler says, there are arguments against such a method, the biggest one being a lack in quality. But between 2005, when Casa Brasil was founded, and 2015, Brazil has stepped up its game in terms of high-quality beans.
“In the last 10 years, I think it’s a fair statement that no other country has done as much to improve the quality of their coffee,” Shuler said. “Ten years ago, the mentality was like the roaster that I talked to — that Brazil doesn’t have good quality coffee. Now you go to the best roasters in the world and they need and have Brazilian coffee in their lineup.”
Shuler’s job now is to find that “good quality coffee,” bring it to Austin and send it to specialty coffee shops and roasters who want Brazilian beans on the menu.
“We go to some of the best farms that we can find and we say, ‘Look, we will give you complete transparency all the way through, and in exchange we want right of first refusal on your best coffees,” Shuler said. “That’s worked well because the normal thing down there is for the growers to deliver their coffee to the co-op, the co-op sells to the exporter, exporter to importer, importer to roaster and then roaster to the end consumer usually. So, we cut out a lot of the middlemen.”
“In the last 10 years, I think it’s a fair statement that no other country has done as much to improve the quality of their coffee,” Shuler said. “Ten years ago, the mentality was like the roaster that I talked to — that Brazil doesn’t have good quality coffee. Now you go to the best roasters in the world and they need and have Brazilian coffee in their lineup.”
Shuler’s job now is to find that “good quality coffee,” bring it to Austin and send it to specialty coffee shops and roasters who want Brazilian beans on the menu.
“We go to some of the best farms that we can find and we say, ‘Look, we will give you complete transparency all the way through, and in exchange we want right of first refusal on your best coffees,” Shuler said. “That’s worked well because the normal thing down there is for the growers to deliver their coffee to the co-op, the co-op sells to the exporter, exporter to importer, importer to roaster and then roaster to the end consumer usually. So, we cut out a lot of the middlemen.”
Now Casa Brasil acts as the shortcut middleman between the farms in Brazil and shops and roasters, like Mozart’s. Mozart’s Coffee Roasters,
a local shop that’s been roasting its own coffee alongside Lake Austin
for over 20 years, purchases Brazilian green beans — coffee beans that
haven’t yet been roasted — from Casa Brasil to use in their South
American blends, according to Mozart’s manager Reagan Thomas.
Casa Brasil also roasts its own coffee, in house, and that’s where Shuler’s Q Grader certification comes in handy. “Every single batch we roast, we taste,” Shuler said. “We are constantly tweaking.” Aside from tweaking and testing to order, Shuler and his team stay true to their objective to remain transparent, do right by the growers and make sure the coffee that winds up in your morning cup is the best Brazil has to offer. “We try to hold a high standard for ourselves — we didn’t get into this business to make millions, we got into it because we love coffee and we love working with growers,” Shuler said. “I’m pretty sure if I painted a half-naked Brazilian dancing samba on the packages, sold it at HEB and just put some cheap coffee in there, we probably would sell more coffee, but it’s not about that. It’s about creating beauty, you know, true beauty.” Written By: Hannah Smothers, Infographic By: Brittanie Burke |