TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Brazil-focused Verde Potash this week said that tests had established that its proprietary ThermoPotash product results in better quality coffee than when compared with plants fertilised using potassium chloride (KCl).

The company on Tuesday reported that when compared with an identical test crop fertilised with KCl, the ThermoPotash-fertilised coffee reached the standard of specialty coffee, a category that commanded premium prices.

"Over one-third of the world's coffee production is grown less than a ten-hour drive from the Cerrado Verde project. On average, coffee requires up to three times more potash than soybeans and two times more potash than corn each year. ThermoPotash can potentially supply this market and be a key determinant in producing superior quality coffee which justifies a higher price,” Verde Potash president and CEO Cristiano Veloso said.

The Agricultural Research Company of Minas Gerais (EPAMIG), a public company that is the state’s main agriculture research institute, led the field tests. Coffee produced during EPAMIG’s field trials was sent to independent experts at Cooxupé, a Brazilian coffee cooperative that is the world's largest individual coffee exporter.

Experts at Cooxupé then sampled the coffee as per the guidelines of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, under pre-established quality criteria for physical and sensory attributes. Coffee grown with ThermoPotash received an average grade of 83 out of 100 points, a measurement that qualifies the coffee as specialty coffee. The grade for the same harvested coffee but grown using KCl was an average of 73 points. Coffee must receive a grade of 80 or above to be regarded as specialty coffee.

ThermoPotash was found to be more efficient in delivering potassium than KCl, generating an equivalent coffee yield while using 36% of the potash that was applied to the KCl test plots.

The premium coffee sector, which accounted for about 20% of the coffee market, is growing rapidly as consumers seek better-tasting coffee. High-quality beans from Latin America are attracting large premiums and sell for about three times the market price at auction.

Brazil's climate and topography allow for ample production of coffee, with the country rankin as the world's largest producer of coffee, accounting for 37% of the world’s coffee supplies, and its second largest consumer market.

More than half of Brazil's coffee production and 25% of the world's coffee production takes place in Minas Gerais state, where the company's Cerrado Verde potash project is located. In 2012, Minas Gerais state's coffee exports were valued at $3.8-billion making Brazil one of the largest coffee exporters in the world. Over the next ten years, the Brazilian market expects significant growth of about 10% in domestic demand for specialty coffees (growth of 1% a year). This was in addition to the current consumption growth rate of 4.8% a year.