2. Clover, at Octavio Café

After Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz sampled what he described as ‘the best cup of brewed coffee I have ever tasted’, Starbucks bought out the Seattle-based Coffee Equipment Company, manufacturer of the Clover 1, the revolutionary coffee machine behind the fêted cup. It ensured the American coffee giant exclusive rights to the machine – but not before a single unit had fortuitously made its way to Brazil. Barista Cecília Sanada, the quality control manager at Octavio Café, bought the R$30,000 machine from a friend.

The Clover 1 is now one of seven coffee preparation methods on offer at the mega-café on Avenida Faria Lima. ‘It’s like a French Press but with more body,’ explains Sanada of the coffee produced using the machine, which has a vacuum system that extracts the liquid from the ground coffee. ‘You can extract all the sweetness from the coffee, which is, after all, a fruit. But Brazilians prefer a stronger coffee, so Clover has been slow to catch on – only the well-travelled and the coffee connoisseurs tend to order it.’

Cup R$6.90. Octavio Café, Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima 2996, Jardim Paulistano, 3074 0110, octaviocafe.com.

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3. French press, at Nicecup Café

If there is one method that many of São Paulo’s baristas can agree on as their favourite, it’s the French press, patented by an Italian in 1929 (why it’s not called an Italian press is unclear). This method is a favourite for capturing more of the coffee’s natural flavours and essential oils, which get left behind in the filters of other popular methods. The ground coffee is steeped loosely in near-boiling water for a few minutes, then strained away through a fine wire filter via a slow hand-plunge.

At Nicecup Café in Vila Mariana, a modern coffeehouse especially popular with Japanese clientele for its inventive iced coffee drinks (think coffee mixed with orange juice, sage-blended iced coffee, etc.), the French press is growing in popularity. ‘The Brazilian habit is to go out for an espresso, and drink café coado (filter coffee) at home,’ says Marisol Vieitez, the owner of Nicecup. ‘But there is a trend towards paying more attention to quality – the grind, the roast – and many find espresso too concentrated.’ The baristas at Nicecup bring the press to the table so customers can plunge the coffee themselves.

Cup R$8. Nicecup Café, Rua Pedro Nicole 1, Vila Mariana, 5083 1012, nicecup.com.br.

4. Espresso, at Suplicy

‘Brazil has roughly 25,000 professional espresso machines,’ says Marco Suplicy, owner of the sleek cafés that bear his family’s name. ‘Of those, you can probably throw 24,900 in the trash because the machines boil the water. They are terrible machines. An espresso is, at least, 98 per cent water. What gives good water crispness and vivacity are its natural minerals – if it reaches boiling point, you lose them.’

Suplicy’s solution? Hand-assembled La Marzocco espresso machines from Florence, which carry a price tag easily confusable with that of a Fiat Uno. Though the café chain, with five branches across town, works with filter extraction and French press as well, espresso is its baby – baristas are trained for up to three months before releasing their pulls on the public.

Cup R$4.30. Suplicy, Alameda Lorena 1430, Jardim Paulista, 3083 0666, suplicycafes.com.br.

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5. Steeped for tasting, at Santo Grão

Marco Kerkmeester, the Kiwi owner of Santo Grão, a high-end European-style chain of five cafés in São Paulo, offers a super serious connoisseur’s method of preparing coffees to be sipped and evaluated as part of a coffee tasting, or cupping. ‘It’s the method we use to buy our coffee, to really find out what the coffee is,’ explains Kerkmeester of the process, akin to a wine tasting, in which different beans are brewed and then tasted black to isolate the body, acidity, sweetness and flavour of the beans.

During a cupping, a small soupspoon full of lightly roasted coffee is infused with water that’s nearly – but not quite – boiling, and left to steep for four minutes. A crust forms at the top, which is broken like a crème brûlée, and the coffee is sipped and spat, much like wine. ‘It really captures the essence of the coffee.’

Two-day cupping course, R$370. Santo Grão, Rua Oscar Freire 413, Jardim Paulista, 3082 9969, santograo.com.br.

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6. Siphon, at Octavio Café

If coffee were a beauty pageant, the Siphon would be its Miss Universe. This gorgeous German method, dating back to the 1830s, uses the pressure of water vapour, heated on an open flame, to move the coffee between two globular chambers in a process that looks more like a science project than anything else.

‘It’s a beautiful process,’ says Octavio Café’s barista Sanada. ‘And it’s a clean process. The coffee doesn’t touch paper or a cloth filter, and depending on what grind you choose, the flavour is marvellous. Not everyone here likes the flavour, but everyone appreciates the entertainment value.’ The siphons are brought to the table , though the customers can’t operate the machine themselves. The method produces a lighter, more American-style filter coffee that’s much less robust than a normal Brazilian brew.

Cup R$13. Octavio Café, Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima 2996, Itaim Bibi, 3074 0110, octaviocafe.com.

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7. Filter coffee, at Café no Vidro

Passionate about coffee,  the businessman Aldo Rose realised that with Brazil’s growing interest in espresso, the traditional filter coffee method was in danger of becoming a lost art. Inspired by the idea of ​reviving the tradition, he opened this café dedicated to serving traditionally filtered coffee in a glass.

Aldo’s sister-in-law, Rossana Loureiro, had learned the tricks of brewing coffee with her grandmother, who was a master of the technique. ‘To begin with, the water temperature is critical. It has to be between 80 and 85 degrees celsius – not boiling,’ says Loureiro, who grinds the coffee beans (sent directly from Fazenda Pessegueiro), adds the hot water and strains the mixture. Another key detail is the filter which, according to Rossana, should be made of fairly old cloth, already saturated with the taste of coffee.

Cup R$1.50. Café no Vidro, Rua Sete de Abril 111, República, 3129 8523.

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