with rio de janeiro as the epicenter of coffee production in the country, this trend continued, and midway through the nineteenth century, coffee made up more than half of all brazilian exports, with rio producing more than 70 percent of it.

throughout this period, the coffee industry was the source of the majority of the wealth of the state, enabling rapid development, most notably the construction of the railroads, which facilitated the movement of the crop throughout the country.

the tijuca forest, one of the most important natural landmarks in rio was the very first land in rio used for the production and coffee until 1862, when dom pedro ii, second and last emperor of brazil, ordered the reforestation of the area to solve the scarcity of water caused by the coffee farms in the area - up until then, virgin lands in rio's region had no value until introduction of coffee production made the territory something to be treasured.