Romanticized over time, the story of coffee's arrival in Brazil has become legendary. According to the tale, coffee was brought to Brazil from French Guyana by Captain- Lieutenant Francisco de Melo Palheta.

Unable to obtain coffee beans from French Guyana's governor who maintained a monopoly, Captain Francisco de Melo Palheta wooed the governor's wife instead. He was rewarded when she secretly gave him the sough after hidden beans inside a bouquet of flowers presented to him as a going away gift.

Initially planted in Brazilian state of Pará in 1727, coffee began to appear throughout Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, São Paulo and Minas Gerais. That was the beginning of a long history that made Brazil the supplier of 70% of all coffee consumed in the world.

At this time, coffee farmers had become the social and political elite of Brazil. Future coffee Barons planted the trees with same unrestrained ambition with which they had planted sugar years before.

The coffee plantations in Brazil called "Fazendas de Café" were run as small states. Coffee growing families became Brazilian nobility with many adopting coats of arms to demonstrate their status.